Finding a New Purpose
by RoyK
Summary: Living a life with no future, Kira Takuto finds himself thrust into the lives of his old friend and band mate, Kouyama Aoi. He is asked to protect and mentor his shut in daughter Kouyama Mitsuki, reluctant Takuto finds new meaning in his life as threats endanger Mitsuki's.
1. The Long Days of Summer

Chapter One: The Long Days of Summer

'Where Are They Now?' The screen graphic flashed across the television with the thunderous music and energy of a mid afternoon entertainment talk show. The graphic quickly faded away to two reporters sitting behind a anchor desk with a large window of Tokyo behind them. "Today we look at the band Route L, fifteen years ago they took Japan by storm, their names were on everyone's lips and their concerts were sold out months in advance." The female reporter spoke, as pictures began to fill the screen of the three band members of Route L at one of their concerts. "With millions of fans, and singles at the top of the charts, it seemed like the band was unstoppable."

The screen then changed to show the view of a horrible car crash the twisted wreckage of a limo having collided head on with a massive truck. "And then tragedy struck, two of the band members were on the way home, when a head on collision killed the group's keyboardist and scarred their guitarist." The screen changed to show Aoi Koga limping out of the hospital, crutches in both arms, his leg horribly mangled from the accident. "The only other surviving member was Takuto Kira who walked away from the accident unscarred..."

The television flashed out, a hiss of static hanging in the heavy humid midsummer air, daylight streamed through the dirty windows into the dusty room, the sunlight only serving to add to the heat of the room. "Takuto? Hey Takuto?" A voice called from the next room, a second later a young woman in her mid twenties appeared in the doorway, her hair soaked in sweat, her tank top clinging to her skin as she held out a empty milk carton.

Takuto's eyes remained focused on the now blank television, a thin line of sweat rolling down past his ear before dribbling off his chin, his long hair clung and matted to his face from the thick humidity in the room. "If you are going to miss work again today, you could at least go to the store and pick up some groceries." She tossed the milk carton at him in annoyance and retreated back into the next room to watch a exercise program on the other television.

With a low growl of annoyance Takuto pulled himself off the couch, the leather clinging to his skin creating a snapping sound as he pulled away from it. He reached down and picked up the milk carton before tossing it in the trash, next to where his janitor's uniform hung. He eyed it for a second, considering to go to work just to get out of the apartment and into some air conditioning.

"And be sure to pick up some fresh fruit too, the apples in the fridge have mold on them" She added giving him a slight shutter as he opened the door and stepped outside.

Amazingly enough it was cooler outside than it was inside, possibly it was the gentle breeze that ran across the stairs leading down from their second floor apartment, or it could be the stress he felt from watching the television program was finally leaving his body. There were times that he considered calling up Aoi, he had heard that him and his wife now had a daughter. By now she would be nearly the age he was when he joined Route L. But he hadn't talked to Aoi since the accident, since he had lost Wakouji. Even now he could feel the pain well up from that night.

"Hey Boy Band!" His neighbor called out to him from the small balcony each apartment had. Using his hands to shield his eyes from the sun he turned to look up at the overweight woman, who had called him that nickname ever since finding out about his past. "Would you stop feeding the strays? They keep coming around here because you feed them." She called out to him as Takuto gave a brief smile and wave.

"Sure Mrs Wakamatsu" He gave a polite response before rounding the corner of the apartment building which led to the busy Tokyo street. A gentle rustling came from the bushes next to him, and out popped a small furry head of one of the felines that he thought of as a pet of sorts.

"Sorry no food this time." He gave the small kitten a pat on the head. He glanced back over his shoulder, half expecting Mrs Wakamatsu to be standing behind him. "I'll bring you something from the store." He added with a smirk.

There was one thing that he enjoyed about the anonymity that regular life gave: he could now walk down a street without having to stop every ten feet for autographs. As a child he thought it was fun, almost like a game to be mobbed by fans looking for pictures and autographs. If it happened now he probably would find it annoying.

With his hands shoved into his pockets, Takuto kicked one of the many rocks that could be found in the gravel parking lot of the local grocery store, the back end seemed to get into worse and worse disrepair with each passing month. Then again, almost no one walked to the grocery store except for the few that lived in the apartment close by like himself, everyone else parked in the front and well kept portion of the parking lot.

One day he hoped to own a car of his own, or even a motorcycle that he could take out into the country side, allow the wind to whip through his ponytail as he traveled along the roads that hugged the mountains. But then he would need a pay check higher than one given to a local part time janitor.

Takuto stepped through the sliding doorway of the grocery store, allowing the cool rush of air conditioned air rush over his body, sending chill bumps all over him as the hot sweat that seemed to cling to every pore of his body suddenly turned cold. "Maybe I'll find a way to fix the air conditioning first." He laughed idly to himself and grabbed a shopping cart.

Milk, Vegetables, Fruits, a half loaf of bread for the cats, eggs, a small package of meat. Takuto mentally went down the check list in his head as he walked through the aisles, trying to do his best to extend the time inside the cool air of the grocery store. As he walked he noticed a young girl, no older than twelve walking through the aisle opposite of him. He would have paid no notice to her, but the light amount of lipstick on her lips, and the stylish way her thick brown hair was done up suggested that she was more than a everyday school girl. If he had to guess, he would say she was either a singer, or one of the child idols that appeared in so many magazines displaying products for sale. She and her mother had walked in earlier, flanked by two men who he would guess was body guards, as they seemed the same body type and look as the body guards that used to travel with the band.

Some time earlier he would guess, she decided to go exploring the store alone from her mother and the body guard was tasked with following her. "Reminds me of all the times I tried to ditch my own body guard." He half mumbled to himself after passing him, a smirk crossing his face as he remembered the wild days of his youth.

He turned the corner and nearly bumped carts with another man who was heading the opposite direction. "Sorry I didn't.." His words trailed off as he looked up into the man's eyes. They were shifting back and forth, his fingers clinched tightly to his empty cart, he wore a thick jacket something much too hot for this time of the year. It was the type of person his body guard had always warned him about during his youth.

'Maybe I am just being jumpy' Takuto thought to himself and apologized again, turning to head away from the aisle. He gave a quick glance behind and noticed that the girl was looking through the various products as her body guard hung back, texting on his cell phone. With every minute the young girl seemed to get further and further away from her preoccupied body guard, meanwhile the man from before seemed to have slowed to inching down the aisle his eyes focused directly on the young girl.

"Dammit.." He swore and let go of his cart, his body pivoting around as he raced down the aisle, the strange man having already passed the body guard and was within two or three footfalls from the young girl.

Takuto bent his shoulder down, and with a near flying charge hit the man square in the back before his outstretched hand could touch the young girl. His shopping cart went flying as the two tumbled to the ground, hitting the hard tile floor with enough force that his elbow screamed with pain. The perverted man was already scrambling out from underneath him, a hand already digging into the pockets of his jacket to pull out a weapon.

"No you don't!" Takuto grabbed his arm to reveal a handgun already in his grasp. With all the strength he could muster he pulled the arm harshly to the side, keeping it from pointing at the child. A shot rang out, striking a loaf of bread sitting on the shelf and sending the cowardly body guard scurrying off in the opposite direction, leaving the little girl to her fate.

Takuto turned his attention back to the gun, with one arm placed on the wrist he used the elbow of his other arm to strike the man in the gut. A gurgling sound came from the man's throat, a signal that he was about to lose his lunch. Pulling his arm around he balled his fist and struck the man on the bridge of the nose, sending him crumpling to the ground, the gun falling out of his grasp and tumbling a few feet away.

With a swift kick Takuto pushed the gun far out of the man's reach and backed away, giving his sore shoulder a long rub. "Tch, what kind of man are you trying to steal a little girl." He asked the unconscious man, blood dripping from his nose as security finally arrived. "Took you long enough." He shot back at the security guards as they started to handcuff the man.

"Are you okay?" He asked, turning his attention to the young girl who had remained frozen in place during the entire ordeal. Every muscle in his body told him to move on, be the unknown hero that may make the local news later that night.

Instead he knelt down next to her, inspecting her to see if the man had grabbed her or hurt her before he had gotten there. "Thank you for saving me." She finally spoke, her words coming out like a sweet melody of someone who had spent years perfecting their voice to sing.

He gave a sheepish smile and shrugged. "It was nothing." He replied and got up, satisfied that she was okay he finally turned to leave only to be stopped by the girls voice.

"I'm Kouyama Mitsuki" She called out after him after he had only taken a few steps.

He turned to see the young girl's mother rushing down the aisle, two body guards flanking her side, one of them having a cowardly embarrassed look on his face. "Mitsuki! Mitsuki! Are you okay?" The woman asked, scooping Mitsuki up into her arms, tears streaming down her pale face.

"I'm fine mom!" Mitsuki tried to push her mother away, a bright blush of embarrassment coming off her face. She turned back to Takuto, and pointed him out to her mother. "This is the man who saved me." She explained as Takuto matched eyes with both body guards before turning back to look at Mitsuki's mother.

"It was nothing really." He shrugged, trying to downplay the entire event.

At first Takuto thought there was something familiar about the woman, the shape of her face, her eyes, it was as if something from another life."No it was, please my husband is holding a dinner tonight, please come and let us repay you for saving my daughter." She pleaded as Takuto backed up in embarrassment.

He began to object, and then remembered Hikari's cooking and how hot and uncomfortable it was at their apartment. "Please!" Mitsuki stepped past her mother, a pleading look in her eyes with her hands clasped together.

"I guess..." Takuto took in a deep breath as Mitsuki's eyes lit up.

"Here, the dinner is scheduled for eight, please come, and thank you again." Mitsuki's mother handed him what looked like a fancy business card before turning and taking Mitsuki's hand. Mitsuki turned back and got one last look at him, a small grin across her face before she turned back and hurried along with her mother.

Takuto let out a long sigh and eyed the business card. "What have I gotten into now?" He wondered outloud.


	2. Memories of Days Past

Chapter Two

Memories of Days Past

Using his finger Takuto tugged on the collar of his button down shirt, adjusting the tight constricting shirt that already felt drenched in sweat. The sun had disappeared beyond the horizon hours ago but he felt as if he were walking around in the mid day heat. Or it could just be the stress of meeting his old friend again after years of being separated.

"You would think they would be a bit quicker opening the door." Hikari complained as the two awaited outside of the courtyard to the Kouyama residence, for what felt like half a hour. It was any wonder he had been able to convince Hikari to go to the dinner, he had to phrase it in a way that she wouldn't begin asking questions about what actually happened at the grocery store, while still being believable. The last thing he needed was a overprotective girlfriend wondering why he had put himself in harm's way for someone he never even met before.

Takuto was just about to suggest that they leave and go get dinner out when the gates swung open to reveal a short middle aged woman with eyes that seemed to be fixed in a permanent squint. "Oh you must be the young man who saved Mitsuki, come come the misses is awaiting you." She quickly waved for them to come in as Hikari shot a glare in Takuto's direction, obviously she hadn't missed the 'saved Mitsuki' part.

The housekeeper or what he suspected was the housekeeper led the two across the long courtyard and into the sprawling two story house. "Guess Aoi ended up doing pretty well." Takuto mused to himself as they were led into the entrance, the sounds of chattering and talking coming from a shut dining room door across the entry way.

"I will go inform the misses that you arrived." The housekeeper announced and quickly walked off toward the dining room, leaving the two alone.

"Saved some one? You never told me you saved someone" Hikari's voice rose in anger from being lied to earlier that day, and the thought that Takuto had placed himself in a dangerous situation.

"It wasn't like that, I wasn't just going to.." His voice was cut off by a short courteous cough coming from the top of the marble stairway, signaling they were no longer alone in the room. Down came a elderly woman, her hair a deep rich gray, wearing a old fashion kimono that seemed to have gone out of style decades ago. She walked with a air of almost royalty about her with her head held high and her hands clasped in front of her.

She did not speak when she reached the end of the stairs, only finally looking at Takuto when she had finally come face to face with him. "I heard you were the one that saved my Granddaughter's life, for that I thank you" She bowed as Takuto could almost feel the walls closing in on him, Hikari's eyes seemed to drill hot holes into the back of his skull. If Mitsuki's life had been in danger then his life had been in danger, and that was something Hikari wouldn't accept.

"It was nothing, really." He rubbed the back of his collar, doing his best to move past the situation although he knew that it would be a long walk back home with Hikari when this night was finished.

"Mitsuki, it is improper to leave your guests waiting." The grandmother's voice changed to one more commanding, as if she were speaking to animal than a human being.

"Yes Grandmother!" Mitsuki called back, the sweet melodious voice just as Takuto remembered. A few seconds later she appeared at the top of the stairs, wearing a flowing white dress, her face and hair done up in makeup. Takuto for a second was taken aback as he watched her slowly descend the stairs, if she had only been ten years older, she would be a sight of beauty. As she descended the stairs Takuto could notice a slight blush on her face through the makeup, by the time she reached the bottom it was obvious she was fighting the urge to say something improper around her strict grandmother. "Thank you for coming." She bowed, saying it in almost a robotic manner.

"It was nothing squirt." Takuto replied with a half grin, bringing a even bigger blush to Mitsuki's face, this one a lot more noticeable.

"We were happy to get out of the apartment." Hikari chimed in, stepping to Takuto's side, obviously she had noticed the blush as well.

The grandmother turned, taking Mitsuki by the small of her back and led her into the large dining room, from the looks of what he could see nearly two dozen various men and women were in the room, some of which Takuto could identify from the years in the recording industry, but all of them had to be nearly twice his own age. They were all milling around, talking and discussing various parts of the record industry, most of them with a glass of Champaign in their hand and a small plate of various foods that had been catered for the event. For Takuto the sight was all too familiar to dinner parties he had attended in his youth.

The tightness of his shirt seemed to constrict even more around his neck, almost like a noose as he took Hikari's hand and stepped into the dining room. He knew none of them would recognize him, he had grown and matured in the twelve years since he had been involved and the record industry, he was no longer the scrawny pre teen that sang in front of thousands of adoring fans, for him that was another life.

Slowly he migrated to the back of the room, pressing his back against the wall and holding on to a Champaign glass that the house keeper had delivered to him upon entering the room. He had caught glimpses of Hikari every few minutes, chatting it up with a washed up boy band, or another singer who most likely had been friends with Aoi after they left Route L.

In his mind's eye he could remember going to these as a child, he would get crowded by various adults in the industry, they would tower over him like goliaths and look down, asking a million questions a minute. 'Do you plan to go single?' 'Can you come to my daughter's birthday party?' 'What do you think of this band?' 'What do you think of that band?' They would all ask, his eyes would widen with fear, and just when he couldn't take it anymore. Wakouji would step in, like the big brother he would place his hands on Takuto's shoulders and answer the questions for him. Later he would sneak in some candy, or something from a fast food joint because the food was always terrible at these dinners. He could even remember tasting his first alcoholic drink, when Wakouji allowed him a sip out of his own glass.

The warm glow of the memories slowly faded to the cold harsh reality of the present, he wasn't a child anymore, and Wakouji was gone. He shut his mind off to the memories, pouring cement over the holes in his heart and doing his best to forget about the past. He couldn't change the past he learned that lesson a long time ago. His eyes scanned the room, this time looking past Hikari, and finding Mitsuki in the maze of people, as he guessed she was swamped with grown men asking her a multitude of questions that like him, could never answer. This time there Wakouji wasn't here to step in and be her savior.

Taking a deep breath and shaking his head, he stepped forward, pushing his way through the crowd of people until he met up with Mitsuki. "Hey squirt, your mother wants to see you in the kitchen." He interrupted a man trying to explain to her the advantages of having her first appearance be at a outdoor arena, Takuto had a vague memory of the man trying to sell him on the same idea when he was a child.

"Eh? My mother?" Mitsuki turned around in shock, her eyes glancing to her side to see her mother across the room talking with her producer with Aoi. Takuto gave her a cocky grin, before glancing around at the various men who had been trying to get Mitsuki's attention. "She will be right back." He lied, leading her out of the room and into the much quieter and empty kitchen.

The moment the doors shut behind them, and they were finally free of the stuffy room, both gasped for the cool sweet air of freedom. "I know how these events can be, sometimes you need a breather." He said reassuringly and walked to the sink, dumping out the Champaign in his glass. He never really liked the taste of alcohol anyway.

"Umm you were in the recording industry before?" Mitsuki asked, fidgeting slightly with the front of her dress as Takuto sat the empty glass back down and leaned against the counter.

He slowly undid the top button of his shirt, and loosened his tie, a thick red line could be seen around his neck where the tie and ill fitting shirt had nearly cut off his own circulation. "You were a singer? Really?!" Her eyes seemed to light up. "What band were you in, mister..."

It finally dawned on him that in all this time he had never once told Mitsuki his name. "Takuto Kira, but you can just call me Takuto." When it came to the name of the band, he quickly added "You wouldn't have heard of it." And moved to change the topic.

"So I am sure all of your friends at school are excited that you got a record deal." He moved to quickly change the topic off of him, except the moment he looked at Mitsuki he knew he had said something wrong. She grew quiet and looked down toward his her own feet, her hands clasped in front of her in a pose that made her look even smaller and younger than before.

"With mom and dad always having to go on trips for the music company, I have to have a private tutor." She explained as Takuto tried to keep his jaw from dropping.

"You mean you have never been to school before? Never scraped your knees on the black top? Never tried to cheat on a test when the teacher wasn't looking?" He asked incredulously, even when he was with Route L he found time for classes, he could not imagine a kid missing out on all the special events that school brought to a child's life.

Mitsuki opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the door behind them swinging open, a tall man in his mid forties walked in and touched Mitsuki's shoulder. "Mitsuki? Is everything alright?" He asked with a calm voice, kneeling down to height of his daughter. "Everyone in there is wondering where you are."

"Dad, I was just talking to..." Mitsuki turned to look back at Takuto as Aoi stood up to look at him.

"Takuto" Aoi spoke in almost a whisper, finishing Mitsuki's sentence.


	3. A Life Changing Offer

Chapter Three

A Life Changing Offer

Night had fallen hours ago, the party had wound down and now the maid was busy making her way around the dining room picking up plates and Champaign glasses. Takuto and the rest had migrated outside, a cool relaxing wind blowing through the summer air, as bugs of various types began to come out tonight and fill the darkness with a symphony of noises. Takuto gave his glass a swirl, the ice cubes hitting the chilled tea inside that the maid, Tanaka he believed she was called, had made for them after the party.

"Alright so this is the best story out of them all." Aoi grinned causing Mitsuki and Hikari to scoot even further in their chairs. For the past hour or so, Aoi and Hazuki had entertained the two with stories from Route L's past, particularly embarrassing stories that involved him. "So Takuto was about...twelve or thirteen at the time."

Takuto groaned, slumping even further into his seat, he knew where this was going. "He had his very first crush, it was a girl he had met at school, but of course she liked another guy, so he convinces her to come to one of the concerts.

Takuto's face began to redden in embarassment as Aoi began to do his best over the top Takuto impression. "He came to all of us backstage, shaking like a leaf and said 'She's here She's here, can we please put her name into one of our songs?'"

"This story is a complete lie." Takuto groaned, his hand over his face in embarrassment as Hazuki hushed him down, and reminded him that she was there too.

"So Wakouji and I look at each other and agree to do it, we get up on stage and we get to the final act of the night, Takuto is still shaking and when the time comes he says the words 'I love you Sakura" in the lyrics." This elicited a 'aww' in response from Hikari, and Mitsuki's face became bright pink as she looked at Takuto as if he had just brought her a baby kitten.

"That's so sweet" Hazuki chimed in as Takuto wished he could dig a hole to the center of the earth.

"Her name was Rika." Aoi finally said after waiting for a moment, this brought a loud long laugh from all of them except for Mitsuki who tried her best to cover her mouth in embarrassment.

"Completely false, every bit of it." Takuto shook his head, his cheeks hot in a embarrassing blush, of course the story was true, and he could never face Rika after that event, he had wanted to climb into a locker and hide in there for the rest of the school year after that embarrassing night, and of course Aoi and Wakouji had never let him live it down.

After a moment Hazuki rose and took Mitsuki's hand. "Alright I think that's enough stories for the night, you have your last rehearsal tomorrow." She began to lead her past Takuto and back into the house, giving Takuto one last look at her as she passed by.

"Cya squirt." He gave her one of his best grins, even though his cheeks were still burning in embarrassment from Aoi's story.

The air hung still with silence for what seemed like a eternity as Aoi waited for Mitsuki to get out of earshot before finally turning to Takuto. "I want you to be her body guard." He spoke bluntly causing Takuto to nearly cough up the tea he was sipping.

"Excuse me?!" Takuto asked, fighting the urge not to cough out the rest of the tea that had went down his throat. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Hikari was moving to object but he was already ahead of her. "Don't you have better trained people who could handle that?"

Aoi shook his head, his face changing to a man who had already made up his mind. "I know what you did at the grocery store, you stayed when her other body guard ran, Takuto I trust you, I have since the first day I saw you."

Takuto looked down at his hands bitterly, his fingers gripping the glass so tightly he wondered if it would break. "Yeah, Wakouji trusted me too."

The comment hit Aoi like a punch to the gut, and part of him was glad Hazuki wasn't there as she would have gotten up and slapped Takuto across the face with as much force as she could bring. "Wakouji would want you to do this, he was my best friend, and he always told me you were destined for something special." He moved forward, placing his hand on Takuto's leg. "Do you feel like you are doing something special now Takuto?" He asked.

Takuto could have lied, he could have said 'Sure, I love what I am doing now.' but Aoi wouldn't have bought it and he knew it. "Takuto and I, we're planning to get married, we can't just..." Hikari spoke up before Takuto ever had a chance to. It was true they had talked about getting married, even though they slept in separate rooms it just seemed like the right thing to do since that had been sharing the apartment for years to save money. But, a voice deep down kept nagging him, telling him marriage was about love, not convenience.

"If it's about money, I can double whatever you are making now, triple it even." Aoi said as Takuto slowly stood up from his chair, followed by Hikari.

"Let me thing about it." And with that he left, not saying goodbye to his old friend, he just turned and left, leaving all of the tension to float in the air.

It wasn't ten meters from the house before Hikari finally spoke up, reminding him about how he had been cautious ever since they met, that he never took risks because of his fear of what happened to Wakouji happening to someone else, including himself.

"I know!" Takuto finally spoke up after a few minutes, slamming his fist into the concrete wall, he couldn't be sure in the poor lighting of the street, but he could have sworn that his knuckles were bleeding. "I don't want to clean toilets for the rest of my life, I can't." He shook his head in frustration as Hikari draped a comforting arm around his shoulder.

"I'll support you, whatever you decide." She finally said, her voice soft and relaxing and for a moment reminded Takuto of everything he loved about her when they had first started dating. "Whatever you decide."

Two days later Takuto called up Aoi and told him he would take the offer, over the following week he had spent time getting to know Toshiyuki Kato, a middle age man who had once served in the Japanese Self Defense Force, now he protected Mitsuki's parents, and when Mitsuki was younger he had protected the entire family. Over the period Takuto learned the basics of being a body guard, from identifying potential weapons, to properly taking down multiple opponents while protecting Mitsuki.

By the time his crash course in training was finished, Mitsuki's first concert was coming around, and Aoi had suggested that Takuto be allowed to escort Mitsuki to the concert while he and Hazuki traveled on ahead to deal with quite a few members of the media that had shown up. The talent agency had billed it as the next generation of Route L beginning, and that alone was more than enough to bring a considerable amount of interest to the incredibly small concert hall.

"Ready to go yet squirt?" Takuto called out for Mitsuki, waiting outside of the home next to the parked limo that her parents had rented, every few seconds he would adjust his tie, for some reason it always felt like a noose around his neck, maybe it was just the material rubbing against his old surgical scar.

"Coming!" Mitsuki called out, bounding out of the house with all the energy of a twelve year old. She was dressed in shorts and a white shirt with green sleeves, obviously they had planned for her to change into her stage dress at the concert hall.

Like a gentlemen, and like he was trained to do, Takuto opened the door for her and allowed her to slip into the spacious limo before sliding in across from her. "Amazing, I've never been in one so big before!" Mitsuki gasped, looking around in wonderment as the limo pulled away and began the trek to the concert hall.

For Takuto it actually felt smaller than the ones he had traveled in as a kid, he wasn't sure if that was from design, or just from growing up. But as his eyes began to focus back on Mitsuki he could notice both of her legs shaking, her fingers gripping the hem of her shorts until her knuckles turned white. "It's nothing to be scared about." He finally spoke up, snapping Mitsuki's attention back toward him.

"The concert, if you go out there, and sing with all the strength of your heart then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks." He said, echoing Aoi's own words to him several years ago when he was worried about their first tour.

Slowly Mitsuki relaxed her fingers, but her legs continued to shake. Takuto let out a long sigh, and checked his watch, they were around forty minutes ahead of schedule, if they arrived there now she would only sit around and wait, and worry, and wait some more, and he knew what kind of stress that could cause a kid.

Something flashed by out of the corner of his eye, and a sly grin crept across Takuto's face. With a quick tap on the glass behind him that separated the passengers from the driver, he alerted the driver to pull the car around and park on the side of the street about twenty meters behind them. "Takuto? What are you doing?!" Mitsuki asked a look of shock on her face as the driver spun the car around and pulled it into the spot Takuto had instructed.

"Taking your mind off the concert." He replied matter of factly, grabbing Mitsuki's arm with one hand, he opened the door with the other spilling light into the dark cabin of the limo. When Mitsuki's eyes adjusted she could see dozens of young faces around her own age looking back at them from across a sidewalk, beyond that was the typical playground of a elementary school.

"Hey!" Takuto called out to the kids, stepping out of the limo with Mitsuki. "Can she play with the rest of you guys?"

"Takuto!" Mitsuki blushed in embarrassment at the impulsive act he had just pulled as one of the girls stepped forward from the crowd of onlookers. In her hand was a large red ball, she glanced back at her friends before throwing it softly toward Mitsuki, who caught it almost by reflex.

"That means your it!" The girl called out in a playful voice as all the kids took off running in the other direction.

Mitsuki turned and looked up at Takuto unsure of what to do. "Go on! You have the ball! That makes you it right?" He nudged her forward, Mitsuki waited for a second and then took a step forward, and then another, and after a few seconds she was in a full sprint toward the other kids.

Satisfied Takuto leaned back against the limo with a satisfied grin across his face. "I'm going to give her a childhood no matter what." He mumbled to himself.


	4. On Grassy Fields and Center Stage

Chapter 4

On Grassy Fields and Center Stage

Every young child in Japan knew how to play the simple game of football, on grass fields and school grounds children would participate in matches nearly every day with balls that looked as if they had been kicked around for decades. These games tended to not include the numerous rules that the professional games did, and was more a friendly game between two groups of kids, kicking around the ball and trying to kick it into the net or any other set goal.

So with the popularity of the game, and the frequency in which it was played, it was to one's surprise when the playground slowly drifted toward playing their own football game, using the oversized red ball that had been used for tag just a few minutes before hand.

The students were lined up, and the two chosen team captains, or the most popular kids in the grade, picked children one by one to be on their team. Mitsuki ended up being one of the last to be picked, but by the look on her face Takuto believed that she was more frightened at the prospect of playing a sport that she barely had any knowledge of.

With just a few exceptions the groups seemed to be cut down gender lines, with girls primarily on one team, and boys on another. As the game started neither team seemed to have gained a advantage, for all the strength the boys provided, the girls were faster and quicker, keeping the ball away from the boys and keeping it in their side of the field. Whenever Mitsuki seemed to get the ball, she would stumble around, copying the moves of her team mates and struggling to pass it to someone else, which sometimes lead to the opposite team stealing the ball away in mid pass.

"This is embarrassing." Takuto grumbled, placing a hand over his face as another ball was stolen away from Mitsuki.

As time began to tick away, the two teams were tied with three goals each, the girls were pushing it up the field to the boys, who seemed to pay very little attention to Mitsuki due to her frequent mistakes. This allowed her to run down the side of the field pass the boy defense, one of the girls noticed it and screamed to kick the ball to Mitsuki. The team captain did, sending the ball in a high arc over the boys head, and landing it squarely at Mitsuki's feet.

Mitsuki looked around in shock and surprise, the ball laying squarely at her feet with the only thing standing in between her kicking the game winning goal was the boy goalie. Mitsuki began to kick the ball forward, moving it from one foot to the next as she began to advance toward the goal. The goalie moved forward to intercept her, Mitsuki moved her leg back to kick the ball in, only for her entire world to go spinning.

She had never seen the team captain for the boys team come racing up behind her, using all of his speed he slid into Mitsuki's other leg, tripping her up and sending her falling onto her back. The girls screamed that the captain had cheated as he stood over Mitsuki with a smirk for a second before racing over to take the now open ball.

"Mitsuki!" Takuto cried out and rushed from the limo, within moments he was by her side and helping her up off the ground, luckily it seemed as if her ego was more bruised than her body, or else Aoi would have killed him for allowing Mitsuki to get hurt.

"Hey! No adults allowed!" The boy who had just tripped up Mitsuki yelled, pointing a finger in Takuto's direction.

"Yeah, well there is no tripping allowed either!" The girl team captain shot back as Takuto began to approach the younger boy.

For the young boy he had to crane his neck upward to look up at Takuto, who looked back down at him in disgust. "What are you going to do about it? Brat?" He asked, before the boy could respond Takuto swept the ball away from him, pivoting around quickly and began to kick it forward, catching many of the boys off guard.

"Stop him!" The boys began to cry out as several of them began to swarm at Takuto, swarming Takuto and forgetting about guarding the other girl players.

Takuto in turn was much more experienced and quicker than the rest of them, he had played football as a kid as well, and was the team captain of his class for two years. He faked to the left, and went for the right, sending two boys who were leaping at him, falling to the ground and getting a mouthful of dirt.

Again he pressed ahead, his speed able to easily pass several other boys as he headed toward the goal, and leaving much of the other kids in his dust. The goalie stepped out, his young eyes growing wide in horror at the sight of the adult running full speed toward him. He moved his trembling hands up to block Takuto's shot, but at the last second Takuto kicked it to his right.

"Mitsuki!" He called out, sending the ball right to her feet, the goalie had no chance, having gone so far out to meet Takuto, he couldn't scramble over fast enough for Mitsuki to kick in the game winning goal.

The girls erupted in cheers and rushed over to congratulate Mitsuki as the rest of the boy squad sulked, some of them giving their team captain a look of disgust for having pulled such a cheap move and getting Takuto involved.

Takuto gave the girls a few more seconds to enjoy their victory before Takuto moved over and touched Mitsuki's sweaty shoulder. "C'mon squirt, we're going to be late if we don't leave now." He said as Mitsuki looked up and gave him a small nod.

"Good bye Mitsuki! Come play with us again!" The girls waved at the limo as Mitsuki waved back through the window as the limo pulled away and drove out of sight.

"Mr. Takuto?" Mitsuki spoke up after a minute, drops of sweat falling from her cheek and onto the seat.

"Just Takuto." He quickly corrected her. "If I am going to be your body guard, we can talk like friends."

Mitsuki's face brightened at the prospect of being friends with him. "Takuto, I was wondering if, maybe, some time I could visit my friends at the school yard again?" She asked.

Takuto let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair, even though he only played for a few minutes he could already feel a light amount of sweat in his hair. "Only if we keep it our secret for now, Aoi might get pissed if he learns I am taking you on side trips without his approval."

Mitsuki seemed to blush even harder and fiddled with her fingers. "Our secret.." She whispered, her voice so faint that even Takuto didn't notice it.

A few minutes later the limo pulled into the covered parking garage on the back side of the concert hall, immediately two men stepped out and held open the door for Mitsuki, neither of them seemed to be able to hide their surprise as a young girl dripping with sweat, her knees covered in dirt stepped out, instead of the pampered idol they had been expecting.

Takuto glanced at each of them as he followed Mitsuki out, pulling the ear bud out of his pocket and placing it into his ear, while attaching the mini microphone to the cuff of his suit jacket. He had been laid back and relaxed all the way up to now, but now they were at the concert hall, and he could not afford to be anything less than hyper vigilant.

"Takuto? Are you here? What took you so long?" Kato nearly yelled over the intercom in his ear. Obviously in his years serving as a body guard, he had never taken any side trips before. "Do you realize how late you are?"

Takuto raised his cuff over to his mouth as Mitsuki entered the dressing room. "We got caught up in traffic, we got here as fast as we could." He lied, in the week that he had gotten to know Kato, he had been able to get a pretty good idea that he was a stickler to the rules, and telling him that he had taken Mitsuki on a side trip to play soccer with some other kids right before her first concert probably would have sent him through the roof of the concert hall.

"So how packed is this thing exactly?" Takuto asked moving toward the stage and took a glance around the side of the curtain, he figured this would be his best spot he could see the vast majority of the audience, and he was only a few meters away from Mitsuki, if something happened he could be on her in a flash.

The audience had to number at least a thousand, the seats were already packed in with Aoi and Hazuki sitting in the front row, those who couldn't get seats, mainly reporters were lining the back wall with some beginning to sit in the back of the aisle.

For a minute Takuto could recall his first major concert, he had only been ten and was harmlessly peeking out from behind the curtain, the popularity of Route L had risen so fast that the concert had to be moved to a bigger venue just to accommodate all the ticket sales.

"Just as we practiced Takuto, forget about the crowd, the lights, everything, and just let the music flow through you." Aoi had said after he caught Takuto peeking. He put his guitar down and walked over, placing his hands on the young boy's shoulders. "And remember, we're here to have fun."

"They are dimming the lights, get ready Takuto." Kato hissed into his ear, snapping Takuto back to reality.

The lights in the audience were nearly fully dimmed, the stage lights flashed on, first one, and then another as Mitsuki walked out on stage, she was wearing a cute white dress made up in several layers, complete with small angel wings and white gloves grasping the microphone. The stage lights seemed to give her hair a sparkle as she bowed toward the clapping crowd. The music began to start for her first song and a soft beautiful melody flowed from her lips, gone was the fear and shaking that she had shown in the car, and replaced with it was a confident young girl.

"She's beautiful." Takuto whispered in awe, taken aback by the scene.

"What was that? I didn't catch that." Kato chirped into his ear, sending Takuto scrambling for the microphone on his sleeve.

"Nothing, nothing at all!"


	5. The Moon That is A Rising Star

Chapter Five

The Moon That is A Rising Star

"Young Moon Rises Over Kyoto!" The graphic flashed with a dazzling display of color as the familiar theme music for one of Japan's most popular entertainment talk shows played over the speakers. A whirlwind of pictures and videos flashed around the graphic showing Mitsuki's latest performance, as well as crowds of fans some young, some old, standing in line outside of CD stores, and outside of the concert halls for some of her latest shows, and for her first single. When the graphic and images faded away, the view was replaced with the two popular hosts sitting at the news desk with a large picture of Mitsuki on the screen behind them.

"She may only be twelve years old, but the artist known as Full Moon, is taking the nation by storm." The female host said excitedly as video of Mitsuki's latest show was played on the screen. "Fans began to line up nearly twelve hours before the show began today in Kyoto, the fifth concert in Full Moon's tour, many turned out to see the girl who is being billed as the 'Next Generation of Route L', while others come for a different reason."

The scene changed to a young girl no older than 10 who was gazing back up at the camera with a microphone close to her mouth from a reporter. "I really like her music, and I want to be a singer just like her." The young girl replied with a bit of excitement in her voice from being interviewed.

The camera shifted back to the female host back in the studio. "With her newest single expected to debut in the top 100, this may be a young girl who has a bright and sunny future ahead of her!" She exclaimed as Takuto flipped off the television in Mitsuki's room as he walked in.

"You shouldn't be watching your own press, squirt." He sat down on the chair next to Mitsuki's mirror and desk. Mitsuki didn't move or respond, completely engrossed in her small pink laptop that her father had given her two years back for her birthday.

"Squirt?" He asked, moving forward in the chair, she didn't respond.

After a moment Takuto got up from the chair and grabbed her by her small button nose, and forced her to look up at his face. "Are you paying attention at all?"

Mitsuki blushed and quickly looked down at her laptop, to which Takuto quickly flipped around and picked up. "The beautiful Full Moon came out on stage with the grace and elegance of a woman twice her age." Takuto began in a mocking tone, walking around the room with her laptop.

"Takuto!" Mitsuki's face turned several shades of red as she tried to grab the laptop away from him. "Don't read it!"

"Her single CD is already sold out at the four stores this author visited, with a long waiting list for the second shipment coming in the next few days." He added as Takuto allowed Mitsuki to grab the laptop and shut it, hiding it under her pillow. "Trust me Mitsuki, as nice as that stuff is, the reporters can change on you in a heartbeat."

"I understand." Mitsuki replied solemnly as Takuto sat down next to her on the bed, a bit uncomfortable by being in a girl's room.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence Takuto rose in frustration and began to walk around the room. "Is this all you doing on the weekend? Sit around and play on computer?" He asked a slight sound of annoyance in the tone of his voice. Girls her age should be out.. doing the things girls her age do, not cooped up inside of the house.

"Well, I get to go shopping with Tanaka" She said as Takuto rolled his eyes.

Fed up with the long eventless morning, Takuto grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed. "C'mon, I am going to take you some where fun."

"Takuto? Where are we going? Takuto!" Mitsiki protested.

The cicadas were particularly loud by the mid afternoon, with the summer heat bearing down on what was quickly becoming one of the hottest days of the summer, both Takuto and Mitsuki found it particularly hard to stay outside for too long, luckily the walk to the old abandon warehouse wasn't that far. Within twenty minutes both of them were looking up at a large two story warehouse with broken windows and rusted metal panels lining the sides. The entire building looked as if it had not been used for decades.

"I used to call this my oasis, it was where I came when we had off days and I wanted to be alone." Takuto explained, giving the broken door one hard kick, with a loud screech of rusted metal rubbing against rusted metal the door swung open.

The air was thick with dust, and dimly lit with the sunlight streaming in from the broken windows. But what could be seen could be described as a child's wonderland. Broken down ramps were pushed up to make slides, ropes and pulies connected to tires to make swings, and the interior of the building seemed to stretch on and on forever. "And it's great for singing." Takuto explained, his voice echoing down the interior of the building.

"Amazing Takuto!" Mitsuki exclaimed as Takuto began to walk around the building, testing the strength of the various playground like equipment. "Did you build all of this?"

"Some of them." Takuto took a running jump onto the tire swing, causing it to fly a few feet into the air before swinging around toward Mitsuki's direction, and sailing effortlessly over her head. "I usually just came here to sing and be alone."

Takuto allowed the swing to loop around a few more times before he was sure of the strength, in one effortlessly leap, he jumped down infront of Mitsuki, his hand on the rope to guide it to a complete stop. "Your turn!" He grinned.

"Eh?! I can just watch!" Mitsuki protested as Takuto lifted her onto the tire swing. "Takuto!" Mitsuki screamed as he took hold the rope and began a slow gentle motion at first, getting her used to the swing.

Her cries of shock slowly turned to laughter as Takuto began to push the swing further and further, with each rotation, each push, she would swing further and further into the air. The swing twisted in air before coming down back toward him. Takuto grabbed the tire and gave it a even more forceful shove, sending it even higher into the air.

Mitsuki's sweat soaked hands slid from the rope in the middle of the arc, causing her to tumble backwards and fall off the tire swing as it was at the top of the arc. "Shit!" Takuto cursed, racing forward toward Mitsuki, he dropped down into a slide, scraping his knee along the concrete floor as he held his arms out, barely catching her before she hit the ground.

"Got you" He gasped for air, sweat dripping from his face as he cradled Mitsuki in his arms.

For what seemed like a eternity neither of them said a word, Takuto swore it was just the heat of the building, or the shock of having Mitsuki almost having been injured, but both of them were turning several shades of red. "Sorry about that." He mumbled, placing her back on the ground while biting back the sharp stabbing pain from his scraped up knee.

"Why don't you try out the acoustics." Takuto suggested, trying his best to hide his limp as he slide over near a side wall and sat down with his back to it, his hands placing pressure over the throbbing pain on his knee.

As Mitsuki went through her set list of various songs the record agency had given her to practice, Takuto did his best to mask the pain and watch in awe. Inside of his chest he could feel a sensation that he hadn't felt since he was in Route L, the enjoyment and thrill that music could bring. He wondered if the others watching Mitsuki felt the same way, as if the purity, radiance, and love for music that resonated off of Mitsuki filled every molecule of air in the room.

The sun had already dipped beyond many of the apartment buildings when Hikari began to walk back from the store, her hands filled with heavy grocery bags that seemed to grow heavier with each passing moment. Ever since Takuto had taken the job as body guard for little Mitsuki, she had been forced to take over more and more of the everyday duties that Takuto had done around the house before.

The bag carrying the milk began to slip further and further from her grasp before finally slipping free and falling to the ground with a loud thud. She groaned in frustration and sat down the bags, everything was so much easier when she could just order Takuto to pick up the food from the store. The loud screech of metal off in the distance briefly caught her attention as she began to gather her bags again.

Several meters away across several empty parking lots and a chained linked fence, a rusty door swung open, and out stepped Takuto, followed by the precocious little child he was tasked to protect. Taking her by the hand he began to walk back toward the Kouyama residence, a smile on his face as he remained deep in conversation with the girl.

Hikari frowned at the attention and contact he seemed to be showing the young child. Why couldn't he just be a silent guardian, now he had to be her friend too? She shook her head in frustration and quickly rounded the corner of the apartments and dipped out of sight.

It was eight by the time Takuto had signed out with Kato, turning in his bullet proof jacket that Kato had insisted that he wore every time he left the residence with Mitsuki. His stomach gave a light growl for food as he walked down the long hallways of the Kouyama residence. He had spent so long tending to Mitsuki he had completely forgotten dinner.

"Mr. Takuto?" The maid, Tanaka he believed her name was, walked out of one of the rooms to catch his attention. "I just wanted to say how good it has been to have you around, the little miss seems to be happier with you around than she has been with any of the other bodyguards."

"I'm sure it's something else!" Takuto quickly replied, trying to hide a blush and his grumbling stomach.

He gave her a quick bow and slipped past her, unknowingly he began to hum a few bars of one of the songs Mitsuki had been singing. This whole day had been something special, he had shared a place with her that he had taken no one else before, it was like a special connection the two had, a bond born out of the love of music, like two kindred souls.

As he passed Mitsuki's door he heard the soft sound of sniffling, he paused and peeked into her door. Mitsuki was again sitting on her bed, gazing at her lap top, her face was free of tears but her eyes were bright red, almost as if she had been fighting down the urge to cry for a while.

"I told you to not read your own press." Takuto groaned and walked into the room.

"Its nothing!" Mitsuki objected, closing the lap top and trying to slide it back under her pillow.

Even with his sore leg Takuto was faster and snapped the computer from her hand. "Okay who wrote the bad review?" He asked, opening the laptop. Much to his shock the web browser didn't have a music review loaded, but instead Mitsuki's email address that the record agency had given her.

With all his strength he kept the laptop from sliding out of his trembling hands as he read the email.

"I am coming for you Little Moon, I am coming to kill you"


	6. Teddy Bears

Chapter Six

Teddy Bears

For decades shopping malls have served many functions, from being a place to buy goods, to a place to browse the different goods that many people could never hope to buy. Yet if Takuto could guess, he would say that the mall was being used today by a majority of the patrons to stay out of the oppressive afternoon heat. He however wasn't so lucky, with her biggest concert coming up in just a matter of days, Mitsuki had asked to be taken to the mall to look for accessories for her outfit. With everyone else busy Takuto had been given the exhausting task of traveling from one shop to the next looking for ear rings.

"Hey Takuto? Do you think mom and dad will let me get a puppy?" Mitsuki asked, stopping at the large windows of the pet store, her hands pressed against the large glass windows displaying several newborn puppies.

Takuto gave a small shrug and walked across to the other side of the store, tapping on the window that displayed several small kittens. "I don't know, I am more of a cat person myself."

"Oh? I didn't know Takuto had such a soft side." Mitsuki teased as his face turned several shades of red and he moved over from the pet store, and toward a bench in the center of the large mall.

Even with all the noise and excitement inside of the mall, that bench seemed like a island of tranquility as Mitsuki and Takuto sat there, Takuto's head turning from side to side, scanning the crowd for any possible problems that could arise in such a public place.

"What is it that you look for exactly?" Mitsuki looked up at him, noticing how his eyes continued to scan the crowd of shoppers.

For the past few weeks Takuto's crash course in training had included identifying a particular threat, including several of the small things normal people may not notice. Kato had told him to always be vigilant, that one clue, no matter how small, could mean the difference between life and death. "You know it when you see it." He replied dryly to Mitsuki's question. Truth was even he couldn't put exactly into words what he was looking for, he just knew to look.

"What do you mean?" Mitsuki pressed.

Takuto let out a long sigh and pointed for Mitsuki to look to the left. "Look to your left, now right in front of you, and now to your right, now look at me." He commanded as Mitsuki followed his instructions. "Tell me what you saw."

Mitsuki thought for a second, fighting the urge to look again just to double check her memory. "To my right there was a woman with a baby, there were some people entering the pet store in front of me, and to my left there was a man in a coat looking at the fountain."

Takuto fought to keep from smiling, she had done pretty well for her first try. "Anything bother you?" He asked.

Mitsuki thought again and then shook her head no.

"What about the guy in the coat?" He asked, as Mitsuki glanced back over her shoulder to look at him for a moment before turning back to Takuto. "It's June, why is he wearing a coat?"

"I don't know..." Mitsuki said as she began to wonder herself.

Takuto gave her shoulder a reassuring pat. "I don't know either squirt, but as long as he is anywhere near you, I am always going to know where he is."

Mitsuki instantly turned several shades of pink and scooted closer toward him, she felt safe with him, as if nothing could happen to her while Takuto was around. It was a warm comforting feeling that she hadn't felt since she was a small child and was always close to her parents. It then dawned on her why Takuto was being so hyper vigilant. "This is because of the death threat isn't it?" Mitsuki asked, her voice turning quiet and solemn.

"Yeah.." Takuto whispered, he had turned the email over to the police, and taken Mitsuki's laptop away just in case the person tried to contact her again. But even the police told him there was very little they could do with one email from a free email address.

So lost in thought from the last few days, Takuto almost hadn't noticed that Mitsuki had quickly gotten quiet, her eyes focused on the hands in her lap. He let out a long sigh and wondered what would cheer her up, what did girls her age like to do?

His eyes caught a flashy shop to the far right of him, it had a large teddy bear on the sign, and the shop was painted in several bright colors, it seemed like the perfect place for a young girl. "Build-A-Bear." He read the name off, his tongue trying to pronounce the weird English name correctly.

"Eh?!" Mitsuki looked up as Takuto went through his wallet to pull out what he would believed was the correct amount of money she would need.

"Go build a teddy bear for yourself." Takuto held out the money.

Mitsuki took the money and then stopped, grinning from ear to ear she grabbed Takuto's arms and began to pull him toward the store. "C'mon Takuto, you can make one too!" She tugged on him with all her strength.

Too shocked to argue Takuto allowed himself to be pulled along into the bright yellow store with flowers and teddy bears lining the walls. "M-Mitsuki! I am just fine watching you!" He complained as Mitsuki walked up to the cashier and bought two brown teddy bear skins.

"Are you ready to put the stuffing in your bear, sir?" The first attendant asked as Takuto followed Mitsuki through the path that lined the store that made up the different stations in making the teddy bear.

"What have I gotten myself in to." Takuto grumbled, handing her the teddy bear and then began to turn the crank on the stuffing machine, filling the small bear skin full of white fluff.

Twenty minutes later, and with much of his dignity lost, Takuto made it to the last station, where the attended would sew in the heart that he had randomly chosen out of a bin while Mitsuki meticulously looked through each and every heart. "And sir remember, this heart is a symbol of the friendship you share with the bear, or whoever you choose to give the bear to." The attendant reminded him.

Takuto was paying so little attention that he almost didn't hear what she was saying. If it was a symbol of friendship that could be the perfect thing to get back into the good graces of Hikari who had grown distant with each passing day. "Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea." He mumbled to himself as the two exited the shop, his bear in a shopping back, Mitsuki's clutched to her chest.

It was already five by the time they got back, Mitsuki having bought two sets of ear rings along with a bracelet and a necklace. It was close to seven by the time Takuto was finished filling out all the different forms Kato had given him for whenever he took Mitsuki out alone, as well as his end of day report. He could never understand why so many forms were needed when it was just the two of them. Wouldn't a quick conversation about the day's events be easier and less time consuming?

"And checking out at seven twenty-five." Takuto finished the sheet, extending both arms out before rising from the chair and heading for the door of the small office Aoi had made for the body guards several years back.

"Maybe I can get home just when Hikari is finished cooking.." His words trailed off as he nearly tripped over something small and furry that had been sitting in the hallway outside of the office. To his shock he looked down to find the teddy bear Mitsuki had made sitting in the middle of the hallway, with a large ribbon wrapped around its head.

For a moment he considered calling out to Mitsuki and reminding her not to leave stuff in the hallway but then it dawned on him why it was there, why it was so far away from Mitsuki's room, she had left it there for him. 'this heart is a symbol of the friendship you share with the bear, or whoever you choose to give the bear to' the woman at the shop had said.

"She left it for me." He whispered to himself a deep blush creeping across his face. He glanced back at his own bear, the one he was going to give to Hikari, how could he give it to Hikari now and not Mitsuki? His stomach grumbled, snapping him out of his daze and reminding him that the biggest problem he was facing right now was a lack of food. The decision on the bear could wait till later.

"Takuto I think you should take some time off" It wasn't ten minutes into their meal of under cooked chicken before Hikari sprung it on him, he figured it would come out sooner or later, the stress of the death threat was beginning to show, and Hikari was never the biggest fan of him taking this job in the first place.

"I'm fine, really." He shoved another cut off another sliver of the meat and ate it, fighting the urge the entire time to just collapse on the table and fall asleep. One of his biggest problems was that by the time he walked all the way back home all the energy he seemed to have with Mitsuki would drain out of him, and all he wanted to do was go to bed.

"No, you are not fine Takuto! You take a dangerous job, you come back home exhausted, and you spend all of your time with that little girl!" She began to list off all the reasons, but the last one caught him by surprise, why was she having such a problem with him spending so much time with Mitsuki? He had never been one to make friends at his last job, and Mitsuki right now was the closest thing he had to a friend outside of Hikari.

"So what?" He asked, too tired to argue.

Hikari shook her head in frustration and began to clean off the table even though there was still a sizeable amount of food left. "So its inappropriate for men to be around girls that age all the time!" She retorted.

Takuto nearly coughed up the sip of water he was taking. "You think, I... she..." He had lost the ability to form words in shock as Hikari just stood there looking at him in a judgmental fashion. "I don't have time for this." He quickly gave up, pushing his half eaten plate away from him and began to walk off toward his room.

Even with his door shut he could hear Hikari mumbling to herself as she washed the dishes. Usually he would go out and help her, but he was so angry at this moment that he just wanted to be left alone. "How could she think such a thing." He mumbled flipping on Mitsuki's laptop, something deep down was tugging at him, reminding him of the bear, reminding him of how close they were when he had caught her just a few days ago, reminding him how beautiful she looked on stage.

All of those worries and concerns were shoved aside when he opened up Mitsuki's email to find a new message waiting there from the same email address as the death threat.

"That is a cute Teddy Bear you made, Little Moon" The message read.

"DAMMIT!" Takuto screamed, slamming down the computer screen so hard that it nearly broke.


	7. What Kind of Day Has It Been (Part 1)

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Seven/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"What Kind of Day Has It Been (Part 1)/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt, you're on in five minutes." Takuto knocked on the door to Mitsuki's dressing room, passing along the message from the stage hand who was so busy doing last minute adjustments he had asked Takuto to leave his post and go and check on her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"When no answer came, Takuto figured she had heard him and turned to walk away, except the silence was odd, he expected at least some sort of reply or acknowledgement. Takuto placed his hand on the door again and twisted the door knob. "Please be decent." He mumbled to himself and opened the door, much to his surprise the room was empty, Mitsuki's clothes she had worn to the concert hall lay neatly folded on the table, a empty coat hanger swayed idly across the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Guess she had to go to the..." Takuto's voice caught in his throat as he noticed the teddy bear, the one he had given Mitsuki lay discarded on the floor. "Kato, is Mitsuki with her parents?" He asked into his microphone as he ran down the hallway, his heart racing./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No, is something wrong?" Kato replied as Takuto threw open the door to the woman's restroom, it was empty./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""MITSUKI!" He screamed his voice vibrating down the hallway./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Kato, Mitsuki is missing, she is missing!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"16 hours earlier./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For anyone who has laid in bed, yet remained awake all night, the first morning rays of dawn are a disheartening sight, the dark room slowly being bathed in light, the birds beginning to chirp as they wake from their evening slumber, all of it reminders that the entire night was spent with out a single second of sleep./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto lay on his bed, his eyes barely even noticing the dawn rays that were filtering through his window shades. In his minds eye he continued to replay the events at the mall, trying to remember who he had seen close to the Teddy Bear store, as the days past between the event, the memories began to blur as Takuto received only a few hours of sleep each night, and now, the day of the concert, not a single minute of sleep at all. He continued to tell himself there was something there, some clue he over looked, only if he could just remember./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Breakfast is ready!" Hikari called out, snapping Takuto out of his trance. Hikari had laid out a simple breakfast of rice, tea, and a few pieces of sausage she had gotten at the store. "So.. I have some news." She spoke up as Takuto sat down to eat./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"When Takuto didn't respond, she continued. "You know that job I was in the running for in Hiroshima?" She asked, as Takuto looked up at her, the cobwebs slowly leaving his brain and allowing him to concentrate on something else than the events that transpired several days ago./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Well... I got the job!" Her voice rose in excitement as she ran over and threw her arms around Takuto, nearly knocking him out of the chair. "We're going to live in Hiroshima!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""We?" He coughed up a bit of rice, taken aback by the sudden turn of events./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yes, we, we talked about this months ago, getting out of here and starting over in a new city." She explained as Takuto struggled to remember the conversation. So much had happened over the time span of the last month and a half that it seemed like a eternity since he was a janitor, and not Mitsuki's body guard./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I can't." He shook his head in frustration. "I have a job, I have responsabilities to Mitsuki, I can't just pick up and leave that!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hikari rolled her eyes, still angered that he was hung up about that little girl. "Takuto listen, she's twelve, she will get a new body guard and in a week she would have forgotten all about you, this is our life, our future."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I need to go to work." Takuto pushed the food away and rose, the one good thing about being up all night is that he had never changed out of his outfit from yesterday./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto? TAKUTO!" Hikari's voice rose in shock and then anger as he headed for the door. "Takuto do not walk away from me, do you hear me?" She asked, her body and voice shaking in anger at his inability to drop some little meaningless job./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto gave her a half wave from behind and continued to walk out the door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The rest of the morning did not turn out any easier, while he had not received any more emails, the police seemed to be dragging their feet due to the many loose ends the investigation had been turning up. By the time Takuto entered the office, Kato was already in deep discussion with two police detectives who had finally gotten a hold of the mall video tapes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Any luck?" He asked, a slight hope in his voice that the morning would slowly be turning around./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Kato glanced back at him from the television screen as the tape looped again, showing Takuto and Mitsuki on the bench talking, and then Mitsuki pulling him into the store. "Sixty people just in the immediate area, about forty we have no hope of identifying, and that doesn't count the people that could have seen you two from the second level." The detective ticked off./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What was she doing there, it was one of the hottest days of the summer, the mall was packed, it was a security nightmare." Kato shook his head in frustration, as all the anger from the morning's events, the feelings of helplessness he had felt over the last few days finally came pouring out./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""And what was I supposed to do? Keep her locked up in her room?" He asked incredulously/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yes, you keep her where she is safe." Kato shot back, only causing Takuto's temper to rise, none of them understood Mitsuki, not a single one of them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She is a little girl! Not a prisoner!" Takuto's voice began to rise as the two detectives paused the video tapes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She is some one who is being hunted." Kato's words struck Takuto like a ton of bricks, his mouth instantly went dry. "You are her body guard, not her best friend, if you can't understand that maybe you should never have taken the job in the first place."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Kato moved to start the tape back again as Takuto collapsed back in his chair, what ever else was said he couldn't hear. It could have been minutes, or hours, he just sat there and tried to soak it all in. He had endangered Mitsuki's life because he was her friend, not just at the mall, but everywhere he seemed to take her seemed to be filled with dangers, she could have fallen from the tire swing and cracked her head open, she could have been shot at from the road at the school. He had placed her happiness above her safety./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto looked over at the bear sitting on the nightstand that passed for a desk in the tiny office. Had he let her become too close? The flip of the lights in the room blinded him for a second but brought him out of his trail of thought. He never should have become a body guard, he never should have risked Mitsuki's life for such selfish reasons./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto rose and slowly left the room, he knew what he had to do, he knew that he had to go with Hikari, make a new life with her in Hiroshima. "Oh! Takuto!" Mitsuki called from her room as he passed it, the bag that contained his bear and now Mitsuki's clutched in his hands./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""How do I look?" She asked, her face beaming as bright as the sun as she spun around in the glittering white dress. "I was thinking if it was okay, after the concert was finished tonight, we maybe could try dancing for a bit before I have to take the dress back?" She asked, her eyes full of hope./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto closed his eyes and shook his head. "Mitsuki, I-I can't do this anymore, I.." He struggled to fine the words, how to phrase that he had put her life in danger so many times. "I just can't." He turned and ran for the exit, dropping the bag containing the two bears at Mitsuki's doorway./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His lungs ached, his muscles screamed, and he just continued to run, he had to make it back to his apartment, had to tell Hikari that he was sorry, that he wanted to leave. Yet all he could picture in his mind was Mitsuki smiling, how their friendship had grown, and the joy and happiness it had brought to both of them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm sorry.." He whispered more to Mitsuki than to anyone else, even though she couldn't hear him. As he reached his apartment he wiped away the tears and fumbled for his keys. After a few tries with the wrong key, he finally was able to get the door unlocked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The apartment was barren, what little they had, even their television, was gone. In the few hours he had been gone Hikari had packed up everything and stuffed it into the rental car and left. Takuto stumbled into the apartment, finally collapsing to his knees in the middle of the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"All of it, his friendship, his fiancé, his life, it was all gone./p 


	8. What Kind of Day Has It Been (Part 2)

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Eight/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"What Kind of Day Has It Been (Part 2)/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto?" A soft voice asked, at first the voice seemed far away, as if speaking to him from across a canyon, and then ever so slowly it began to drag him back toward reality. The room was sweltering, sweat dripped from his face and body, his shirt was soaked, he must have been sitting there for hours because he could not remember the room being so hot when he entered./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto are you okay?" Takuto turned toward the voice, his eyes bloodshot, his body pale and aching with exhaustion. Mitsuki was standing in the doorway, dressed in her everyday clothes, the two teddy bears clutched in her arms./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki?" He asked, his throat dry, his mouth felt like it was filled with sand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki dropped the bears, rushing over and throwing her arms around him in a deep hug, even with her weak body the force was enough to nearly throw him back. "Mitsuki, you should be at the concert hall." He whispered, his voice weak and hoarse./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki pulled back for a second and noticed that he was soaked in sweat. "I'll get you a glass of water!" She quickly got up and rushed to the sink, a few seconds later Takuto was drinking what at that moment was the greatest thing in the world, the ice cold water, cooled his body and seamed to snap his mind out of the fog that it had been in for so long./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Why arn't you at the concert hall squirt?" He finally asked after his third glass, the room stank with sweat but Mitsuki seemed to barely even mind the smell./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki looked down at her hands, reflecting for a moment before looking back up at him. "I can't, no I won't be Full Moon with out you" She said firmly, her voice filled with a strength he had never seen before./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Huh?" Takuto asked, dabbing his face with a wet towel that Hikari seemed to have missed in her haste to pack everything up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I have been thinking alot about this, when I get up on stage, I can sing with all my heart, because I feel like I am filled with life, and Takuto, the reason I feel that ways is because when I am with you I finally feel like I am living." She explained her voice radiating a wisdom far beyond her years. "Takuto, without you I would have been locked up in my room everyday." She tugged at his soaked shirt, looking up at him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It was at that moment that he realized it, she needed him as much as he needed her, she had been a bright beacon in his life, something that had finally given him direction and meaning. And he, he had been the one that let her spread her wings./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I guess it can't be helped." He smiled down upon her, the paleness finally lifting from his face, and replaced by the warm glow that he had carried with him ever since he had met Mitsuki. "You are the best thing to happen to me in a long time."br /br /"Takuto" Mitsuki blushed a deep red. In the emotion of the moment, Takuto leaned down, with out thinking he moved to kiss her soft lips, Mitsuki saw what he was doing and closed her eyes, her heart racing/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The horn to the limo cut through the silence of the room, snapping both of them out of the moment just inches from the kiss. "Heh, we better get going." Takuto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, as Mitsuki blushed in embarrassment./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Just let me go and get changed." He staggered out of the room and into his bed room, sliding the door shut./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A few minutes later they were underway, Mitsuki tightly clutching the teddy bear Takuto had made, and Takuto having her's in his lap. Both of them sat in silence, reflecting on the day's events so far as buildings sped past outside. Both of them thinking about the kiss that had nearly happened./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt, you're on in five minutes." Takuto knocked on the door to Mitsuki's dressing room, passing along the message from the stage hand who was so busy doing last minute adjustments he had asked Takuto to leave his post and go and check on her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"When no answer came, Takuto figured she had heard him and turned to walk away, except the silence was odd, he expected at least some sort of reply or acknowledgement. Takuto placed his hand on the door again and twisted the door knob. "Please be decent." He mumbled to himself and opened the door, much to his surprise the room was empty, Mitsuki's clothes she had worn to the concert hall lay neatly folded on the table, a empty coat hanger swayed idly across the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Guess she had to go to the..." Takuto's voice caught in his throat as he noticed the teddy bear, the one he had given Mitsuki lay discarded on the floor. "Kato, is Mitsuki with her parents?" He asked into his microphone on the cuff of his sleeve as he ran down the hallway, his heart racing./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No, is something wrong?" Kato replied as Takuto threw open the door to the woman's restroom, it was empty./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""MITSUKI!" He screamed his voice vibrating down the hallway. "Kato, Mitsuki is missing, she is missing!" He shouted into his microphone, the ear bud in his ear in which Kato communicated back at him fell out as he swung around the corner, throwing open the double doors that emptied out into the cool night air./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""MITSUKI!" He shouted again, a man with a ski mask over his face turned to look at Takuto, his eyes piercing his very soul with hatred, with one arm he held Mitsuki, her eyes filled with panic as his hand remained fully in place over her mouth./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Let her go!" Takuto screamed, rushing toward the kidnapper./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He didn't even hear the gunshot, all he knew was a sudden pain stabbed at his chest, his entire world went spinning, and in the next second he was laying on the concrete, a cold numb feeling spreading from his chest as he struggled to draw in breath. His fingers reached down, and were met with warm red liquid. Takuto struggled to lift his head up, his eyes focused on the kidnapper as he shoved Mitsuki into the back seat of a car./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She instantly went to the window and pounded on it, tears streaming down her face, even though he couldn't hear what she was saying, he could make out that she was screaming his name over and over by reading her lips./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The engine of the car revved to life, the tires squealed as it took off. The last thing Takuto could see was Mitsuki pounding on the windows, a look of terror on her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"And then... everything faded to black./p 


	9. Route L ( Part 1 )

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Nine/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Route L ( Part 1 )/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"14 Years Ago/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Autumn seemed to strike with a force much stronger and much more powerful than in the past few years. Wind whistled through the buildings of downtown Tokyo, people dashed along the sidewalks, holding on to whatever packages they were carrying as if they would be carried away by the howling wind if they let go just a little bit. Even the leaves seemed to have been caught off guard, the rich green leaves of the summer lay strewn about, some even fluttering in the air as the autumn wind ripped them from the branches./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The temperature change, and the ferocity of the wind struck Wakouji and Aoi with surprising force, catching both off guard as they debarked from the train, and into Tokyo. "What was wrong with number forty seven?" Aoi asked, the two had just gotten back from auditions for their band, finding a lead singer had been harder than either of them had thought it would be./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji went over the list in his head. "The girl? You do realize this is a boy band?" He asked glancing over at his friend./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She had a great voice" Aoi continued to press, walking through the turnstile at the train station./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji shook his head. "You are hopeless." He laughed, arriving at street level where the wind seemed to be even worse. "You know, when you came to me and told me you wanted to put together a band, I gave up several acceptance letters to join you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi gave a long sigh that couldn't be heard over the howling wind. Wakouji had reminded him of the opportunities he had turned down for medical school to join him over the past few weeks, it was essentially his way to push him to make a decision on the lead singer of the band. "We will find someone by next week." He insisted, trying to calm his friend's worrying./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi was so caught up in the discussion with Wakouji he never even noticed the short ten year old kid that he nearly tripped over, the child had long oily hair tied back in a pony tail, his face and shirt was stained and covered in mud, all of these things Aoi quickly realized meant he was a street child, one of the many orphans living on the street during the recession that had ripped through Japan over the last few years./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Sorry." Aoi quickly apologized, helping the child to his feet before he continued on./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I am just saying that I have bills coming due, I can't keep this up forever." Wakouji insisted as the two entered a local deli for lunch./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi nodded, his own bills were coming due and unless the band started making money soon, he would be out on the street as well. "I'll pay for lunch then." He insisted hoping that would momentarily quiet his friend about money problems. When he reached in his back pocket for his wallet, all he found was emptiness, he reached for his other pocket, nothing. "My wallet's missing!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji's eyes quickly darted around the room to see if his friend may have dropped it. But Aoi was already heading for the door. "That little brat stole it!" Aoi called out as Wakouji rushed to catch up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The young boy was doing his best to look natural as he weaved his way through the crowd, clutching Aoi's wallet between his cold dirty little fingers. As natural as he tried to look, the day being a school day, and his small height made him a easy target for Aoi and Wakouji to spot, especially since he was walking at a normal speed, and not running like most thieves would./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Get back here!" Aoi yelled, doing his best to dodge and weave out of traffic, the boy turned and took one look at the two men coming his way and took off, his small size allowing him to dive between the gaps between the pedestrians./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""This isn't going to work." Wakouji dived into a alleyway, navigating the maze around the shops to get ahead of the boy, and nabbing him after a few more minutes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Let me go!" The boy kicked as Wakouji held him several feet in the air, pressing his body against the stone concrete wall in the alleyway./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi caught up a few seconds later, gasping for air and doubled over, his face pale from trying to fight for his breath in the biting wind. "Give back what you stole." Wakouji commanded, his grip tightening on the boy's dirty shirt./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's my father's!" The boy lied as Aoi snatched the wallet from his clutches, checking to see if his money was there as well as the license to make sure it really was his./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Everything is here." Aoi closed the wallet, slipping it back into his back pocket as Wakouji began to lit the boy back down to the ground, the tips of his feet just beginning to touch concrete. As he did so, something gold and glistening slipped out from around the boy's neck. "Wait a minute." Aoi reached forward and touched the gold medallion./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It was for the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, usually it was given to children special and talented enough to land a spot in one of the prestigious training classes. "Where did you get this?" Aoi asked in shock, half expecting Wakouji to say that he stole it, instead both of them held back comment as the boy shook Wakouji's hands off of him and stuffed the medallion back under his shirt./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's mine, I got it when I was in choir before my parents lost their house." He said bitterly as Aoi's eyes lit up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No" Wakouji shook his head, already seeing where this was going./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Twenty minutes later all three of them were sitting at a booth in the deli that they had entered earlier. The boy, or Takuto as he liked to be called had already gone through two glasses of tea and seemed to be nearly through with his sandwich, if Wakouji could guess, he would say that the poor boy hadn't eaten in days./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""This has bad idea written all over it." Wakouji shook his head, taking one glance at Takuto before turning back to his friend. "A boy band does not mean it literally needs a little boy"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Who cares if he can sing well, how many of those other try outs have been in the Philharmonic orchestra?" Aoi shot back. "Besides it may give us some much needed attention when we start out."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji shook his head, ever since he had known Aoi the two would get into these arguments, each one taking a position and debating it, even if they truly did not believe what they were debating. "Where is he going to stay? He smells like a sewer"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""My place is large enough" Aoi countered. "It's large enough for all three of us to live comfortably while we're trying to find our place."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji moved to his next point, he didn't want to press Aoi too much on the living conditions seeing how he was near bankrupt and may have to move in with his friend or find himself out on the street. "Don't you think people will start asking questions about a little boy staying with two grown men? Besides we don't even know if he can sing!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Can too!" Takuto spoke up, his mouth filled with the last bite of his sandwich./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi clapped his hands together, glad to finally have moved the discussion away from the debate. "Why don't we have a audition here." He glanced around at the empty deli, it was perfect for a impromptu audition./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""In here?" Wakouji and Takuto asked simultaneously, Takuto nearly choking on his sandwich./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi rose from the booth, eyeing the few workers that populated the deli, he was sure none of them would mind a small singing audition happening, besides they had blown so much money sitting up the last one they couldn't afford to rent a proper theater. "Just stand up in the booth." He helped Takuto to his feet, sliding a chair over so that he would be sitting directly in front of Takuto./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto shifted around uncomfortably. "What should I sing?" He asked/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Anything" Aoi replied./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto took a deep breath, centering himself and trying to shut out the wierd looks he was being given from the rest of the staff at the deli. When he opened his mouth, out came a beautiful serenade, the song about a young boy who longed for home and his mother's loving embrace. His singing was filled with emotion and conveyed the same longing and sadness that the boy in the song must have felt./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"By the time he was finished many of the employees at the deli had tears in their eyes, while Aoi and Wakouji tried their best to not show any emotion during it, they both had to admit the emotion of the song, and the pitch perfect delivery in which Takuto sang it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""We have our lead singer." Aoi leaned over to Wakouji before standing up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto Kira, how would you like to join Route L?"/p 


	10. Route L ( Part 2 )

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Ten/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Route L ( Part 2 )/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"12 Years Ago/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The mood outside of the concert hall could best be described as a hurricane unlike any Japan had experienced, the shouting and screaming of young teens, the waving of signs, even the older fans seemed to lose themselves in the jubilee at the sight of Route L's limo which stood out as the eye of the hurricane. And just like a hurricane, inside of the limo was a place of serenity, the sound dampened by design, the windows tinted after a few angry fans from a opposing band had shown up with signs a few weeks back. The band could have been driving down a scenic highway instead of into a concert hall surrounded by thousands of raging fans, and never know the difference./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What are you working on?" Takuto pestered Aoi, he had been writing in a notebook during the whole ride from the airport, to the point Takuto's twelve year old curiosity couldn't help but ask./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Our next single." Aoi replied dryly, not even looking up at Takuto who remained seated across the limo./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"This sent Takuto's curiosity soaring as all sorts of ideas filled his head, Aoi had become the group's guitarists and song writer with the other two pitching ideas from time to time, yet it was Aoi who would take those ideas and make them magic./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's a love song for Hazuki, I bought a music box on our last stop, I plan to have the song programmed into it." Aoi explained as Takuto's eyes widened several sizes in shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No way! No way am I singing a dumb love song!" Takuto protested with all the force a youthful boy would at the thought of singing a type of song usually given to female singers./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji ignored the pleas and protests of the young boy and instead turned his attention back to Aoi. "You think we can debut it by next month?" He asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi stopped and then started to erase a line that he had already erased over twice already. "I don't know, I don't even have a name for the song, something about snow and falling, not to mention the last part continues to give me trouble." He paused and looked up at Takuto. "Relax, I plan a rock version too, unless you want to keep complaining."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto opened his mouth to argue, only to shut it again as he thought better. The limo slowed to a halt in the empty parking garage and the doors opened. Across the parking garage was a young teen girl no older than 18, with long beautiful flowing chestnut hair, and eyes that seemed to be full of energy and life. "Aoi!" She called out, running for the limo as Aoi quickly exited and enveloped her in a hug./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Are they kissing yet?" Takuto left the limo on the other side, jumping up and down in a attempt to see over the roof at the two lovers. "They are going to kiss!" He grinned with all the pervertedness of a pre teen boy./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Down squirt." Wakouji commanded, using his pet name for Takuto as he grabbed him by the head and forced him to keep from seeing anymore of Aoi's private moment. "We have to get ready anyway."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto grumbled out a reply as he was lead to the dressing room by the back of the head. "br /I still don't like this love song idea, it will ruin my image." He complained as Wakouji snickered at his complaints, it was a sign of Takuto growing up, two years ago he wouldn't have cared about his image, now all he cared about was how he appeared to other girls./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""How about a deal?" Wakouji offered, sliding into the makeup chair next to Takuto. "You stop bugging Aoi about the song, and you actually help out a bit writing it, and Aoi and I will show up at the school dance next month."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's eyes lit up for a second, having Route L play at his school dance would make him pretty popular with his classmates. "Wait a second..." He held up a hand as he tried to think the proposal over, he had tried to get Wakouji and Aoi to go to that dance for months. "Why is this song so special?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's for Hazuki, she means alot to Aoi, remember when we helped you out for that girl you liked? Sakura?" He asked as Takuto's face reddened in embarrassment./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You promised we wouldn't talk about that again!" He grumbled sliding even further into his makeup chair./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The roar of the crowd still echoed through the stadium as Route L left the stage and headed back to the limo. "So what are we going to do now? Go to a after party?" Takuto bounded down the hallway feeding off the enthusiasm and energy from the crowd they just left, and the emotional high that music had given him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Actually, you are going back to the hotel and going to bed." Wakouji flicked his forehead like a older brother. "Aoi and I are going to discuss some contract negotiations with the studio before we start working on the next single."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto frowned and crossed his arms unhappily. "It's my band too, why is it I always have to be kept out of the loop on these things?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Because you're only.." Wakouji shot back only for Aoi to place a hand on his shoulder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Because it's a bunch of us sitting around at a bar or in a stuffy room talking about boring things such as salary for appearances." Aoi explained, trying to make it sound as dry and boring as possible, truth was he didn't really need to dress it up too much, the entire event was pretty dry and boring./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto paused and considered his options, on one hand he could sit around with a bunch of adults talking about things he didn't understand, on the other he could say he was going to bed, and head back to the hotel and watch movies until the others got back. Usually he favored the second option, and a large part of him was dragging him toward it, but curiosity got the best of him this time. "I want to go with you." He said firmly./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Don't come crying to us when you get bored." Wakouji warned, as the limo pulled around to pick them up, Aoi was already on the phone, rescheduling the meeting from the bar they had planned on, back to the offices at the studio./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto just grinned happily as the three entered the limo, for him he just enjoyed finally being able to do 'adult' stuff with the rest of the band, instead of being treated like the little child who had to go away when the important negotiations happened./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As the limo took off Aoi pulled out the notebook from under his seat and began to work on the song again, every few minutes who would stop and erase the line he had just written. "The ending still bugging you?" Wakouji asked his friend. "Now I know why you have been so quiet."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Maybe I am trying too hard, but its the big finish and I just cannot get down something that sounds right." Aoi rubbed his head before passing the notebook over to Wakouji. "Maybe a fresh set of eyes will help."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji gazed down at the blank space that separated the lines, on the rough sheet music Aoi had written before getting up and passing it to Takuto. He never understood why but Takuto enjoyed sitting on the opposite end of the limo, facing back toward them. It was just one of those weird quirks they all had./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto gazed down at the music, 'If the snow keeps falling forever, will it cover up my feelings for you?' and then the line repeated the main verses of the song. But there was nothing there to go along with the music, Aoi had erased over the lines over and over again that the paper threatened to rip if he tried to erase even one more time./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What about drums?" Takuto asked, speaking the first thing that came into his head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The others looked taken aback by the suggestion. "Takuto we're a three person band, none of us plays the drums."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto shook his head in frustration and held out his hand as he tried to imagine it in his head. "Think about it, a drum solo, leading up to the big finish between verses." He turned to the window separating them from the driver and began to demonstrate, starting with a low rhythmic tap, and then ending on three loud hits to the window./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""That may actually work." Wakouji considered it as Aoi leaned forward in his chair and scooped the sheet music back away from Takuto./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Do that again." Aoi quickly said, writing the beats of the drum on the page as Takuto demonstrated again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Before Takuto could get the third large hit down for the finisher, the small window rolled down and the driver turned and tried to stick his head through it. "Could you please stop doing that, the banging is getting distracting."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto blushed in embarrassment, he was about to apologize when his eyes caught sight of a light coming straight at them. He could barely make out a cry for shock before the whole world exploded around him. The limo jerked forward as it impacted straight on with a large van coming in the opposite direction. The force was enough to send the back end of the limo sliding around like a sling shot, the breaks squealing as all three of them were bounced around./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"And then the second crashed happened, this time from the side, the whole left half of the car frame seemed to bend inward, and Takuto heard loud screaming fill the cab, it seemed like a eternity until he realized that he was the one screaming. The force of the impact from the second car was enough to tip the entire limo over onto its side, and then over again, and again. Takuto's head slammed into the ceiling, and he could barely make out the sight of his friends also tumbling along in the limo before he finally blacked out./p 


	11. In a Gunman's Shadow ( Part 1 )

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Eleven/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"In a Gunman's Shadow ( Part 1 )/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The room was thick with the smell of disinfectant, outside of the door the subtle footsteps of people moving about could be heard, the steady chime of doctors being called, and every so often the sound of a wheel chair or gurney being pushed down the hallway. Inside of the room the only noise was the steady hum of electronics, and the beeping of Takuto's heart rate monitor. At first his vision was blury, everything a swirl of colors, and then slowly he began to focus. "Where am I.." His voice came out as a whisper as he tried to sit up, only to find a sharp shooting pain in his chest./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"That was enough to open the flood gates, sending memories washing over him. "Mitsuki!" He cried out and was rewarded with a even more powerful stab of pain in his chest. The heart rate monitor went into over drive and the nurses came rushing into the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I have to, she's in trouble." Takuto's words were coming out faster than he could think, Mitsuki was captured he had to find her, to rescue her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Sedate him!" One nurse yelled as Takuto again tried to get out of bed. Another nurse came over and injected something into his IV. Instantly he could feel something hot travel up his arm, it flowed through his veins and up his neck, by the time it reached his head he had already passed out again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With his duffle bag slung over his shoulder, Takuto stood outside the door to Aoi's house for what felt like hours, his chest was still bandaged from the surgery to remove the bullet and repair his damaged lung, but the doctors had felt that he was healthy enough to leave. The question was where to leave to? He had gone back to his apartment already to find the locks changed, the duffle bag he currently had was sitting outside the doorway filled with whatever Hikari had left him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He reached under his shirt, and scratched at the cotton bandages, the sweat already was beginning to soak in causing them to itch and irritate his skin. "What do I say, sorry I screwed up?" Takuto mumbled to himself, a part of him, a large part of him told him to just leave, and try to find a flea bag motel to stay for the night./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"And yet another part of him said to stay, to help in anyway possible to finding Mitsuki. That part was the reason he was standing in Aoi's doorway. "I'm sorry Aoi." He had practiced that line for days, saying it over and over again in the hospital. His hand reached out and he gently tapped on the door. It swung open almost immediately a uniformed police officer standing just inches away from him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm Mitsuki's body guard." He stated flatly, moving past the police officer and into the house./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The dining room that he had stood in just a month or so before and helped guide Mitsuki through a crowd of music moguls had now been transformed into a command post with various cops overseeing footage and surveillance tapes. Aoi or Hazuki were nowhere in sight, and Takuto guessed that they were both consoling each other, or had gotten fed up with the slow progress the police were making./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto moved down the hallway, stopping at Mitsuki's room to gaze inside. It remained untouched from when she had left just a week ago, the only difference now was the two teddy bears now sat on her bed, most likely placed there by Hazuki. Takuto dropped his duffle bag in the hallway and gently walked in, picking up the Teddy bear he had given Mitsuki, and ran his thumb through it's fur./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He could still smell the perfume she had put on for the concert in the bear's fur, if he closed his eyes and tried hard enough he could almost imagine she was still there, standing by his side, asking him to drive her to the concert, or to take her to the mall./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What are you telling me? That I should just accept my daughter is gone?" Hazuki's voice could be heard down the hallway, it sounded broken but still carrying the strength that Aoi had fallen in love with so many years ago./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Ma'am it's been a week, no phone calls, no emails, we have nothing to go on, I told you the first 6 hours are always our best chance in returning the child, by now the chances that she is.."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She's alive." Takuto cut off the police chief turning everyone's heads to the doorway, no one having noticed him arrive in Aoi's bedroom. "I know she is alive, I know it." He gritted his teeth, his fingers clutching Mitsuki's teddy bear. "So don't tell me or anyone else that she isn't."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Seeing the resolution in the boy's eyes, the police chief finally backed down and left the room, leaving Aoi to comfort the now sobbing Hazuki. When he finally turned to look back at Takuto, he could see the gratitude in Aoi's eyes, but knew that Aoi would never say those words outloud. Deep down Takuto knew that Aoi blamed Takuto for Mitsuki's disappearance, and until he got her back, Aoi would always see Takuto as the reason Mitsuki was gone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Leaving them to comfort each other, Takuto moved on to the small bodyguard office, where Kato sat, pouring over video of the mall security tape for what must have been the thousandth time, his eyes were sunken in and his face pale from a lack of sleep./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Found anything yet?" He asked, jerking Kato out of his concentration./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Shouldn't you be at home, or in bed." Kato replied bluntly./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I have nowhere else to go." Takuto played off the sentence as if he were saying he had nothing other to do than to work, but the truth was he truly did not have anywhere else to go./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Kato leaned back in his chair and rewound the tape. "Maybe a fresh pair of eyes would help, I'm looking for someone looking in your general direction more than once." He explained, it seemed that he had gotten so desperate he had widened the search to just about everything./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As day turned into night, and the two continued to watch the ten minute video loop over and over again, Takuto's eyes began to wander around the room. The paint that had started to flake off the walls, the bullet proof vests in the corner, the weapons locker that was pushed into one corner. And next to it a box filled with a few pictures and about half a dozen other personal affects./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In his mind he couldn't get rid of the sight of those eyes looking back at him, the absolute hatred the kidnapper had as he shot him. Every time he brought it up Kato reminded him the police believed that was hatred directed toward Mitsuki or Aoi, maybe a former band member who's band had declined in Route L's success, or a child star that never got the same break Mitsuki had./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It was past midnight when Takuto's curiosity got the best of him, he rose from his chair to stretch his aching legs and moved over to the box and began to take out pictures. All of them with a young man close to Takuto's age, some of them with him and Mitsuki smiling, some of them with him alone in them. "The last bodyguard, he had been assigned to protect Mitsuki right?" Takuto asked out loud as he sorted through the pictures./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yasuo?" Kato asked, tearing his attention away from the video for a minute to realize Takuto wasn't watching it anymore. "We have been trying to contact him, but he's been out of the country ever since Aoi fired him, besides he wouldn't hurt Mitsuki the two were pretty good friends."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto continued on through the box, digging even deeper for a sign of something, anything. "Besides the cops have already been to his apartment, they found nothing on his computer or at his apartment to link him to Mitsuki's disappearance."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No of course he wouldn't" Takuto replied dryly, the kidnapper had stalked them for a week or more, had been able to avoid surveillance, had been able to set up a untraceable email, and had been able to grab Mitsuki from right under his nose, he wouldn't be a person to leave clues around for the police to find./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You said they were good friends?" Takuto asked as the thought sprung into his head, it was a long shot, and it was all on the hope that a 12 year old little girl who was shut in would be extremely curious./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yeah, which is why.." Kato's voice trailed off as Takuto tore out of the room, only grimacing slightly from the nagging pain in his chest as he navigated his way to Mitsuki's room at almost breakneck speed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In there he had found her laptop, returned by the police when the emails turned out to be a dead end. "Takuto what are you doing?" Kato arrived, gasping for air as Takuto's fingers flew across the keyboard./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""If they were such good friends, he might have mentioned a place, a vacation spot, something to Mitsuki, and because of how little access to the outside world everyone gives her she might have looked it up on the net." Takuto explained, going through her history, scrolling through websites she had visited months ago./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His heart nearly leapt into his throat as the last website from the second of March came up, it was a google search for a address half way across down, followed by a street view of the building./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""He told her about this, she went searching for it that night, she's here, I know it." Takuto stated flatly as he pushed past Kato and walked back to the office at a brisk pace./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""That's alot of guessing, especially when you don't have any proof." Kato returned to the office as Takuto was already putting on the bullet proof jacket, although forgoing any of the firearms available in the locker./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""If you don't believe me then go back to watching the tape, if you do then call the police and tell them where I am going to be." He snatched the keys for Kato's motorcycle off of the desk and pushed past him, heading for the garage./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""And what do you think you are going? You are in no condition to drive" Kato raced after him as Takuto entered the garage and climbed onto the black motorcycle, all of this action was causing his chest to scream in pain, the taste of copper blood began to dribble into his mouth as he twisted the key on the motorcycle./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm going to rescue her." Takuto replied, twisting the handle bars to cause the motorcycle to rev to life, the loud hum of the engine filling the garage. He gave it one last twist before hitting the accelerator and tearing out of the garage and into the night./p 


	12. In a Gunman's Shadow ( Part 2 )

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twelve/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"In a Gunman's Shadow ( Part 2 )/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Lightning crackled overhead, leaving the distinct smell of oxygen in the air, in the distance a steady rain could be heard as the summer storm moved across Tokyo, bathing it in a tropical rain. The neon lights that dotted the Tokyo skyline glistened even brighter in the rain soaked atmosphere. Of all the things on Takuto's mind as he pulled up to the house around two in the morning, being caught in the rain was not one of them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"From the flashes of lightning he could tell from the sell sign out in front of the beach front house that it still hadn't been bought yet. The two story house with its brick walls and tinted windows had a distinct foreign feel to it, which would possibly explain why it was listed as being incredibly expensive, and hadn't been sold yet./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto circled the house, trying each window and door, each one bolted or sealed shut. "Dammit." Takuto swore, arriving at the front window of the house. He pulled his arm back and turned his head, slamming his elbow into the window, sending shards of glass spraying everywhere. Moving quickly he shoved his hand into the impromptu made hole, and unlocked the window, sliding it up and stepping inside of the house with ease./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Please be a deep sleeper." He prayed as he made his way around the spacious living room and into the kitchen. The flashes of lightning off in the distance illuminated his way, but also warned him the storm was getting closer and closer. A shiver ran up his spine at the foreboding feeling that brought./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The kitchen was littered with trash, crumbs of rice stuck to the counter top, wrappers of bread and various other snacks filled the waste bin to the point of over flowing. If Yasuo was living here, he would have avoided taking out any trash to avoid suspicion, which would explain the sizeable amount of trash./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Moving through the kitchen, Takuto headed toward the staircase at the far end, the lower level seemed to be abandoned at this late hour, meaning Yasuo was most likely sleeping in one of the upper bed rooms./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Another flash of lightning, and in the briefly illuminated kitchen, Takuto noticed another door next to the staircase, underneath him the floor board creaked and moaned, signaling the house was not built on a concrete foundation./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's eyes shifted back and forth from the stairs to the basement, if he walked upstairs and it wasn't Mitsuki's kidnapper that currently occupied the house, he would be in alot of trouble, yet if it was, he could rescue Mitsuki if she were in the basement and possibly sneak out before the cops arrived./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Weighing his options, Takuto finally decided to head for the basement, another flash of lightning illuminated the room, the thunder coming quicker as he opened the basement door and slowly descended into the darkness./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"When he reached the final step, Takuto risked the chance to speak out and risk being heard by anyone else in the house. "Is anyone here?" He called out, feeling his way through the darkness./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In the darkness a metal scan skidded across the floor, sending Takuto's heart racing and a new wave of pain washing over his chest. "Is someone there?" He asked, his voice slightly louder as he made his way around the room, creating a mental map of it. The walls were concrete, with wooden struts lining the walls and at least four in the center of the room, all of them holding up the portion of the house the basement was built under./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""If you can hear me, make another sound." Takuto called out, and was rewarded with a soft tapping on the floor./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Racing over he found a small figure curled up on the floor, the body no bigger than a young child about Mitsuki's age. Running his fingers over her face, he found the gag and clawed at it, finally pulling it down. "Takuto." Mitsuki's voice broke through the darkness, her voice weak and already breaking into a sob./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm here, I'm here." He hushed her, allowing her to cry on his shoulder as he went to work undoing her bindings./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I thought you were, I thought you were." She repeated in breathless sobs, her shaky hands quickly grasping him as tight as she could./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He bit back a cry of pain and kissed her forehead. "It will take more than a bullet to kill me, squirt." He said with a cocky grin, and kissed her forehead again, his heart soaring with emotion./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yasuno, he wanted to make dad suffer, he wanted to hurt you." Mitsuki explained finally letting go of Takuto to wipe her tears away from her cheeks./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki? Did you undo your gag again?" A voice called out, sending chills up Takuto's back and a cry from Mitsuki as she buried her face into Takuto's lap. "What did I tell you about disobeying me?" The voice threatened, making his way down the basement steps./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Go hide." Takuto whispered into Mitsuki's ear./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She shook her head violently, clinging to Takuto's pants. "Don't leave me, don't leave me." She repeated over and over again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm not going to leave you, just go hide, please." Takuto pleaded as Yasuno made it to the final step./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki? Where are you." Yasuno called out, a even more threatening tone creeping into his voice as Mitsuki scampered across the room, trying to get as far away from the voice as possible./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Do you want more people to die?" He threatened, pulling back the hammer of his gun to punctuate his point./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto silently made his way across the room, his eyes fixed on the figure cloaked in darkness that stood at the bottom of the steps, his body being illuminated from flashes of lightning every few seconds. "I wouldn't want to kill your mother, or.." He began to threaten as Takuto charged at him, lowering his shoulder to hit him directly in the gut./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Both of them fell to the concrete floor, a fresh wave of pain hit Takuto's ribs as blood filled his mouth. Before Yasuno could even react Takuto was already ontop of him, delivering punch after punch to the man's face, all the fury, all the anger from the last few days came spilling out in a violent rage./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As the fifth hit connected with Yasuno's bruised face, he lifted his leg and sent it colliding into Takuto's back, throwing him off of Yasuno, who was already on the move, trying to find where his handgun had fallen./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'll kill you, I'll kill you." Yasuno roared, finding the hand gun and began to fire blindly into the darkness, the gunshots ricocheting off the concrete walls, bringing about screams from Mitsuki, as Takuto leapt to the floor to avoid being shot again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'll kill the little brat first, I will make you watch her dying breath I swear I will." Yasuno threatened as he swung the gun wildly across the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You monster!" Takuto rushed at him, dropping down to undercut his legs to send Yasuno somersaulting into the air, the hardgun falling from his grasp and sliding somewhere further into the pitch black room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Yasuno's body guard training kicked in and he responded with a fury of punches to Takuto's face to knock him to the ground. With Takuto briefly dazed on the ground Yasuno rushed for the stairs, willing to cut his losses and run instead of feel around for his handgun in the darkness./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No you don't." Takuto rose, blood dribbling from his nose and mouth as Mitsuki rushed to his side and clung to his arm./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Don't go." Mitsuki repeated over and over again until her voice was all but a whisper, her body shaking like a leaf in the wind. Off in the distance the sound of sirens could be heard as the police finally began to arrive./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Thank you Kato." Takuto exhaled slowly, sliding to his knees as the stress and anguish he had felt from the last few days finally began to leave his body./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto, you're bleeding." Mitsuki's thumb brushed across Takuto's lips, feeling the thick warm blood that ran down from his bloody nose./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Even in the pitch blackness Takuto tried to give his cocky smile. "You should see what I did to Yasuno." He laughed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Lightning illuminated the room as it crashed somewhere very close to the house, for a moment Takuto could see Mitsuki's face, her sunken eyes were filled with tears, her pale cheeks soaked in the same tears as she tried to hide a small laugh./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"'She's safe' was all Takuto could think about, all the horror thoughts, all the fears, all of it was for nothing because she was finally with him and safe. "Mitsuki." He whispered, cupping her cheek with his hand, his thumb wiping away the tears./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He didn't know why he did it, if asked he wouldn't have been able to explain it. But at that moment, that small second that lasted only a heartbeat, Takuto leaned in, his eyes closing as his lips brushed against Mitsuki's dry chapped lips in a soft ever so brief kiss./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Light suddenly illuminated the room as the police were able to get the power company to restore power to the house. The sudden shock was enough to break the moment for Takuto, but for Mitsuki she was still leaning in, eyes closed and lips open./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto returned to stroking her cheek, signaling the moment was over as the sound of footsteps could be heard above the room as the police stormed the house. "We're down here!" Takuto called out, rising to his feet and taking Mitsuki's hand. "She's safe." He added as he made his way to the steps./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He turned back to Mitsuki, for a moment he had completely forgotten about the ever so brief kiss. "Lets go home Mitsuki." He gently picked her up, believing she was too weak from the events of the last week and began to carry her upstairs bridal style. "Lets go home." Takuto echoed again as Mitsuki clung to his chest./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For now, the nightmare was finally over./p 


	13. The Calm After The Storm

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Thirteen/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"The Calm After The Storm/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The dying rays of the summer sun filtered through the window illuminating the hallway, the fading smells of fresh vegetables and steam cooked rice lingered in the air from a meal that had been finished only a hour before. In the distance a bird cried out, the sound occasionally breaking up the calmness and stillness that filled the house./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto took a chance and bent around the corner, trying to gage where his target was. They had cornered him in the living room, but he had wondered if that was his opponent's plan all along, as it provided plenty of room for cover, and only two directions they could come at him from. A shot whisked past his head, causing him to jerk back behind the wall for cover./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki." He hissed, glancing down at her as she gripped the trigger of her gun, her large brown eyes filled with fright as she looked back up at him. "I'll cover you, run across so you can flank him from the side entrance."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's eyes widened in confusion. "What's a flank?" She asked as Takuto groaned, sometimes he forgot she was only a twelve year old girl./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Flanking means you are going to attack him from the side as I attack him straight on." He whispered, his voice slightly impatient as his fingers began to grip his own weapon even tighter. "On the count of three, run across to the other side and I will cover you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eh? Takuto?" Mitsuki sounded even more confused./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""One..." Takuto counted./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I can hear you." Their opponent called out, taunting them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Two, three." Takuto hurried the count and spun around the corner, firing off several shots as Mitsuki scrambled across to the other side of the hallway, their opponent not even getting a shot off as Mitsuki crossed the entry way to the other side./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto signaled with his fingers for her to turn down the hallway and head in from the left side of the living room. After a moment she gave a nod of understanding and clutched her gun, heading off for the left entrance./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's heart was already racing as she made her way over to where Takuto had signaled. She could only wish that Takuto had come with instead of telling her to flank their opponent. Daring a glance she peeked around the corner only for a shot to come very close to hitting her face as their opponent fired at her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I can see you Mitsuki." He taunted. "You're going to have to be better than that to beat me."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Oh really?" Takuto asked, pressing his water gun to Aoi's head. "I thought she did pretty good, now drop it." He signaled as Aoi allowed the water gun to fall from his grip and hit the floor./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You really did fall for the oldest trick in the book." Takuto taunted, only for his blood to run cold as he felt the familiar nozzle of another water gun pressed to the back of his head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Did I?" Aoi grinned, glancing behind him to see Hazuki smiling happily as she held the water gun directly at Takuto's face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto flicked his eyes over to where Mitsuki was hiding, he only had one chance to win, and it was all on the shoulders of a little girl who had never shot a water gun before. "Shoot them Mitsuki!" Takuto's voice wavered as Mitsuki stepped out, her water gun flicking back and forth between her father and her mother./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""But, I may hit you!" Her voice stammered/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Fine then just shoot Aoi!" He smirked as Aoi's eyes widened in shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki if you shoot me you are.." He couldn't even finish the warning as Mitsuki closed her eyes and let out a cry, her finger pressing the trigger and sending a spray of water across the room. When she finally opened all three of them: Aoi, Takuto, and Hazuki. Were soaked to the bone, as well as a innocent sofa that had been caught in the crossfire./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Alright Mitsuki, time for bed." Aoi dabbed his face off with a towel as Hazuki worked to dry the sofa and walls. For a moment Takuto was certain she would object, yet instead she just bowed respectively and left for her room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She's a good girl." Takuto remarked, helping to clean the walls with Hazuki. In the past two days since he returned Mitsuki home, she hadn't spoken one word about the kiss, and for a time Takuto began to wonder if it ever even happened. After everything that happened that night, and the sleepless night that followed, he was beginning to have trouble telling what was a dream and what was reality. Yet there was one happy outcome of the whole ordeal that he knew was true. "Thank you for letting me stay here." He added, saying it for what had to be the thousandth time./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"After returning Mitsuki and hearing that Hikari had left him, Aoi jumped at the chance to offer Takuto a spare room. With nowhere else to go, Takuto accepted the offer and moved in that night much to Mitsuki's delight./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt, are you asleep?" Takuto whispered, cracking open Mitsuki's door. One of the effects of her captivity was Mitsuki struggling to go to sleep. Everyone else had already gone to bed, and the house was dark and quiet./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto?" She raised her head up, for a moment Takuto worried he had woke her up, but then he noticed her voice did not have a single hint of exhaustion in it. "I just... umm.." She struggled to find a excuse for her sleeplessness as Takuto let out a long sigh./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You're scared Yasuno will come back." He replied, even though his face was all over the television and the net, he still hadn't been captured yet, but the police swore they would find him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She paused for a moment and then gave a shallow nod as Takuto left the doorway and returned a few seconds later with a mat and pillow from the closet. "Well if he does sneak in tonight, he won't be able to get past both of us." He gave her a lopsided grin as he laid out the mat under the window in her room, next to her bed. "And if he does come, you flank him from the left."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He heard Mitsuki give a slight giggle as he settled in on the mat. "Ever heard about the story of the snake and the moon?" Takuto finally spoke up after a few minutes of silence, his eyes gazing up at the moon as it's light filtered through the windows of Mitsuki's room. When she didn't respond he continued on./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""A long time ago, there was only one snake in the world, he was a big snake, bigger than any other snake you see now." Takuto began to tell a old bed time story he heard once. It came all the way from the natives in America long before the English came./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Sounds scary." Mitsuki finally spoke up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Nah, this snake was gentle, and beautiful too, he was covered in almost every color imaginable, anyway the snake was in love with the moon, every night he would crawl up to the largest hill around and gaze at her beauty." He continued./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""But the moon wouldn't pay any attention to him, but the snake continued, every night he would crawl up to the hill and gaze at the beautiful moon, early one morning the moon finally spoke to him, and he was so scared he had no idea what to say, see the moon had fallen in love with the snake too but had been too scared to say anything."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""They were in love?" Mitsuki asked, her voice sounding even more exhausted than before, a signal that she may be falling asleep./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Deeply in love, and they spent every night talking to each other, but see the sun was also in love with the moon, and one morning the sun came out early and caught the two together. the sun got into a jealous rage and grabbed the snake, the moon pleaded for him to let go of the snake, but he wouldn't and he ripped the snake up into a million pieces."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki gasped, as Takuto paused before continuing. "But the pieces regrew and became all the snakes we see now in the world, and the sun had horrible eyesight so he never noticed the snake had regrown, and so the snake and the moon were able to live happily ever after."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As he finished the story he could hear Mitsuki's breathing becoming softer and softer, until he was sure she had fallen asleep. "Good night Mitsuki." Takuto whispered before closing his own eyes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As the dawn rays filtered through the window, and the birds began to sing, Takuto's eyes slowly began to open. It was another night in which he had slept through the night without waking once, he couldn't recall having such a full and complete night sleep before he came to Aoi's. He lifted his arms to rise out of bed, when he noticed a significant weight on his left arm. He glanced over and the sight was enough to send a jolt of shock through his system./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Sometime during the night Mitsuki must have come down to the mat, and fallen asleep in the crook of his arm, her body snuggled up against his for warmth and security. "Mitsuki? Are you awake?" He could hear the voice of her grandmother outside of the paper door as it slowly began to slide open./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Dammit." Takuto swore and slowly pulled his arm out from under Mitsuki, doing his best to keep from waking her. Once he was free he performed a quick roll over her, making sure not to disturb her, before continuing the roll to slide under her bed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki?" The grandmother continued across the room as Takuto watched from under her bed. She finally walked around to discover Mitsuki fast asleep on the mat. "So un lady like" She chided her before leaving the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Wierd old hag." Takuto grumbled, waiting a moment for her to get further down the hallway before he crawled out of Mitsuki's bed and left the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Sleep well?" Kato asked as Takuto walked into the office, still in his pajamas./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto moved across the room and began to sort through police reports, "Same as the night before" He lied as he reviewed the latest police report on Yasuno, "So what do we have scheduled for today?" He asked./p 


	14. Mitsuki's Next Single?

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Fourteen/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Mitsuki's Next Single?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Smoke seemed to hover just above everyone's heads as the late afternoon rays of sunlight spilled through the blinds and illuminated the room. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and stale pastries that sat in the far corner of the room. All around the heavy oak table, adult men, many of them heavy set and dabbing cigarettes in a overloaded ash tray, planned out the future of Full Moon./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""These are what our song writers were able to come up with." One of the men spoke up, pushing several sheets of papers across the table to little Mitsuki who sat on the other end, looking out of place in the whole scene./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto grabbed them first before Aoi or Mitsuki could get to them, thumbing through the songs before passing them to Mitsuki. "They suck." He said bluntly, catching many of the record executives off guard./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I don't think you are in any position to.." One of the executives began to reply, pushing his glasses further up his nose./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Okay, they really suck." Takuto added as Mitsuki passed the songs to Aoi who flipped through them just as quickly as Takuto did./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""He's right." Aoi agreed, tossing the papers across the table, sending them back to the executives. "If Mitsuki were to sing these it would destroy her career."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A particularly overweight executive who must have smoked a pack of cigarette's already rose to challenge the two. "Listen, Full Moon's CD sells have been off the chart since the incident began.."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto curled his fists in anger, he hated how soulless these people were, how they saw Mitsuki's possible kidnapping and death in terms of how rich it would make them. Sometimes he wondered if this was what Aoi and Wakouji were protecting him from all those years ago. "But that won't continue for too much longer, we have to get a second single on the market while there is higher interest, if you do not like these songs, why don't you write one, you used to be Route L's song writer, weren't you Aoi?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""We might just do that." Takuto rose from the table, his anger getting the best of them as Mitsuki's eyes lit up and Aoi shook his head softly. "And we won't have to rely on you blood suckers." He added, storming out of the room in anger./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Two hours later Takuto found himself in one of the numerous sweet cafes they seemed to dot Tokyo, specializing in sugary treats, and a good hang out spot for many teenagers and children who had just gotten out of school. "So have you ever written a song before?" Mitsuki asked a large float in front of her, topped off with whip crème and cherries that seemed to rise as high as her head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto stroked his chin for a moment thinking about his time back in Route L, and his original plans to go solo before he found out about his cancer. "When I was in Route L, your father would write all the songs, but I would help out from time to time."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's eyes widened as she heard about Route L's past, with Wakouji's death it wasn't something that Aoi apparently spoke about. "Some of the best songs come from your feelings and emotions, something you want to share with your audience, even things that have happened in your past." Takuto continued to explain as Mitsuki sipped the soda float./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto leaned back in the booth, allowing his head to fall back over the back of it, as he stared up at the ceiling. Mitsuki had spent most of her life following her parents, or being sheltered by them because of their busy schedule and her own brush with cancer a few years back, she really didn't have too many life experiences to write about./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's eyes slowly scanned across the street, before coming to rest at a movie theater further down the street. "They can also come from inspiration as well, reading a book or watching a movie could spark a idea." He suggested as Mitsuki finished her float with only half of it still in the cup./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A smile crossed Takuto's face as he paid for the bill, even though Aoi would probably write a song for his daughter, Mitsuki still insisted on trying, the attempts she had taken in the last few hours were mixed at best. "C'mon squirt, I have a idea." He grabbed her hand and took the lead, heading toward the movie theater./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto! Wait!" Mitsuki grabbed the paper she had been using in her attempt to write her latest song before Takuto pulled her out of reach/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""A movie?" She asked inquisitively a few minutes later, her fingers curled around Takuto's. "It feels like we're on a date." She added, a slight blush creeping across her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Huh?" He replied, clueless to what she had said as he studied the different showings at the theater. There were several action movies from America listed, and while he was tempted to see those, he knew that it would not spark Mitsuki's creativity, there were a few anime movies but nothing she would have watched before, and one romance, the only problem with that one was the rating. "Maybe if I just cover her eyes." He sighed, feeling a bit demasculated as he paid for the tickets for the romance movie before heading inside./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"On the screen the two star crossed lovers seemed to look into each others eyes as they dined in front of the setting sun, on some beach in France, she was in a bikini, he was topless, and Takuto was in hell, already slumped into his seat as he watched the movie that seemed to go on and on forever. How many times could these two look into each others eyes, and hold hands, and skip along, there had to be a time limit to this movie./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The scene shifted into the bedroom and Takuto quickly turned Mitsuki's face away, his hand cupping her cheek as he looked at her from across the arm rest. "Little too inappropriate for you squirt, your father would kill me if I let you see all of this."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I don't mind." Mitsuki blushed as the two remained ever so close, both of them thinking about the kiss that happened./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki looked down at the arm rest, unsure of what to say, she couldn't ask for a kiss, and she could never force it, she didn't have the self confidence for that. Takuto took a quick glance at the screen, his cheeks warming at the sight before he turned back to Mitsuki. She had never really recovered yet from the ordeal several weeks ago, he didn't know if she ever would./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He gazed at her looking down at the arm rest and wondered about the incredible amount of strength she had, to survive such a thing and come out so unscathed, without thinking he cupped her chin, and lifted her face. This time it wasn't by sheer chance, or a rush of adrenaline, this time he truly wanted to kiss her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He leaned in, their tender lips brushing and then finally meeting. Mitsuki's eyes slowly drifting closed as she wrapped her arms instinctively around Takuto, and he did the same for her. When they finally broke the kiss the credits were already rolling, both of them having turned deep shades of red from the romantic event./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You really shouldn't tell your father about this." Takuto spoke up as the two of them walked back home, both of them holding hands like a couple instead of just Takuto leading her. His heart swelled at her touch, and continued to beat in joy from the kiss, it was like a weight finally being lifted from his heart./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I do have a idea for your song." Takuto said as they reached the gate and Mitsuki keyed in the entry code to let them into the courtyard. "It's a song that your father was working on before Route L broke up." He explained heading to the storage house located at the far end of the garden./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The two had stopped holding hands the moment the house was insight out of fear someone had seen them. He didn't know what he felt, if it was love, or just a crush, he hadn't felt love for years and when Hikari left he thought he wouldn't feel it for years to come. But he knew Aoi wouldn't understand even though Mitsuki was just a few years younger than Hazuki when she fell in love with Aoi, so for now the holding hands and the kisses would have to remain secret./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Aoi was writing this for your mother, I think he was going to use it to propose." Takuto continued, fumbling with the lock to the storage house until he finally got it off and swung the door open. "But Wakouji died and the band broke up, so we never used the song on stage."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki paused as Takuto began to shift through boxes of old Route L material. "This was a love song for mom?" She asked, her face turning bright red as Takuto pulled out a old note book, the cover slightly torn and bent./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Here it..." Takuto's voice fell off as a figure stepped into the doorway./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What are you two doing?" Aoi asked firmly, his eyes locked on the notebook in Takuto's hands./p 


	15. Forbidden Music

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Fifteen/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Forbidden Music/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A gentle wind rushed across the entrance blowing Aoi's hair, in the distance the sound of the different summer bugs coming out to make their nightly noises could be heard as the sun began to dip below the horizon. The storage house suddenly became cramped as tension filled the air./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I asked what were you doing." Aoi repeated, his voice filled with anger as his eyes remained locked on the notebook in Takuto's hands./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto could only gulp down his shock and fear as he tried to put together a proper explanation. "Mitsuki's next single, it could be the song you wrote for Hazuki." He explained as Aoi made his way across the distance between them and snatched the book from Takuto's hands, returning it to the box./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Find another song." Aoi said bluntly as he returned the box to its proper place./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Why can't we use this one? It's a masterpiece, even I knew that and I was only twelve at the time." Takuto continued as Aoi left the storage house, only pausing for a moment at the doorway./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Find another song." Aoi repeated before leaving the two to remain standing in stunned silence./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The tension that dripped in the air during the whole event seemed to fill the house as all of them sat down for dinner just hours later, no one spoke, and with Mitsuki, Takuto, and Aoi all focused on their plates as if something magical was hidden under their food. When they were done, all three left not a single word having been spoken by any of them, and Hazuki sensing the tension doing her best from sturing up any more turmoil./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Your father can be so annoying some times." Takuto sulked, having retreated to Mitsuki's room after dinner as she began work on her song attempts, and Takuto found interest in tossing a toy ball up into the air and catching it as he lay on her bed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""He's really protective about everything from Route L, I think it reminds him of Wakouji" Mitsuki explained as Takuto let out a sigh of disgust./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For years Takuto had blamed himself for Wakouji's death, he had dived into a deep depression for most of his teen years as he believed that if he had not begged to go, if he had not done the stupid attempt to help with the song, his friend would be alive today. Eventually he found Hikari and she helped him out of that darkness, for all her faults he could never do enough to thank her for that./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Like it or not Takuto had to admit that even Aoi, the person he looked up to as a child as a man of strength and resolve, had broken down over Wakouji's death and was still hurting inside from it. "Done!" Mitsuki announced, causing Takuto to miss catching the ball before it bounced off his head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Let me see squirt." He groaned rubbing the spot where the ball hit as he rose from the bed and walked over to her desk./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He peered over her shoulder and briefly look through the song, it was about a girl falling in love for the first time, experiencing her first kiss, and the fear and excitement that a forbidden love brought as she wondered if her parents would accept it. For all the spelling errors, and flow problems with the song, Takuto could at least see some of the hidden potential that could eventually come out from Mitsuki's efforts./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""This song sounds familiar." Takuto smirked, as Mitsuki's face turned several shades of red. "Oh now I know, it reminds me of when I first fell in love with Sakura!" He teased./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto!" Mitsuki cried out, grabbing the pillow she was sitting on and began to swat at him with it in embarrassment./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Or maybe it was when I fell in love with Hikari!" He teased, racing around the room as Mitsuki teased him, taking wild swipes at him with the pillow, each one easily out of reach of his body./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto leapt over Mitsuki's bed again, this time using his speed to pivot around on his right foot as he landed, and scooping up Mitsuki into his arms. She was already in mid swing and got in one good hit before he could grab her and hold her. "Or maybe it reminds me of when I kissed you." He whispered, his voice turning serious as Mitsuki's face turned several shades of red./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He leaned in for the kiss, he could feel her gentle breath brush against her lips when he heard the sound of a hand touching Mitsuki's door and began to pull it open. "Damn!" Takuto swore and pushed Mitsuki to her desk and leapt back onto the bed, scrambling to grab the ball he was tossing before as the door was pulled open and Mitsuki's grandmother entered./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki! What is a boy doing in your room! And on your bed for that matter!" Her voice grew sharp and angry as her eyes narrowed in anger toward Takuto, who continued to just toss the ball into the air and catch it, mostly to annoy the old hag./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Why of all the disgusting, perverted.." She continue to list off numerous offenses as Takuto rolled her eyes, she was acting as if she had just caught the two kissing, which in all honestly she was just a few seconds away from actually doing./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm her body guard." Takuto resisted the urge to add in 'old hag' to the end of that sentence. "If you can't trust her with me then I shouldn't have a job right?" He added, catching the ball and spinning it on his finger tip./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The old woman's eyes widened in shock at how the boy was talking back to her, she didn't like Takuto, she didn't like him being so close to Mitsuki, and to find him in Mitsuki's room with the door closed, it was unbelievable for her. "I can't believe my wife's husband hired such a dispicable young man!" She spat at Takuto before turning and leaving the room, never addressing why she had come in and the first place./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Old hag." Takuto shot back after she had left the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The following morning Takuto was awoken by the sound of a car pulling out of the drive way, and passing close by his window. He rose up slowly and rubbed his sleepy eyes, to catch the sight of Aoi driving off. "What is he doing up so early." He mumbled catching sight of the time on the clock before getting up and getting dressed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With Mitsuki's meeting at the record company yesterday, most of her schedule for the following day involved being tutored by the usual staff of teachers Aoi had hired to teach his daughter. Which only meant a day off for him, as he tended to keep his distance from Mitsuki during her usual school hours./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Fighting the urge to go back to bed, Takuto quickly got dressed and threw on his jacket. He lucked out in that Kato had driven in on his motorcycle that morning, and hadn't noticed Takuto slip away with the keys. Moments later Takuto was on the open road again, catching up with Aoi's car and following him to whatever destination he was traveling to./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto followed him for the next hour, as Aoi weaved in and out of early morning traffic, his route taking him all the way to the other side of Tokyo before finally coming to rest outside of a cemetery that Takuto had only seen once before. By the time he had parked and secured the motorcycle, Aoi was already up the hill and kneeling in front of Wakouji's grave, doing his best to clean the gravesite up as best as he could./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki's almost a thirteen, she's entered the music industry and his already put out her first single." Aoi explained as Takuto got within ear shot of the grave. "Takuto is with her now too, he takes care of her like you used to take care of him."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto looked down at his feet, suddenly feeling embarrassed to be ease dropping on the conversation. "He wants to let Mitsuki use that song I was writing for her next single, but I don't know if it would be right, if I should just lock up that night so deep inside that it never sees daylight again."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto stepped forward and kneeled down next to Aoi, trying to not focus on his friend's startled reaction but instead focusing on Wakouji's grave. "Hey buddy, havn't seen you in a while." He acknowledge Wakouji first before turning to Aoi. "Sorry that I followed you here."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Looks like Route L is back together again." Aoi looked back at Wakouji's grave, his eyes beginning to glisten from tears./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto began to pick up the fallen leaves and vines that seemed to have fallen on the gravesite as Aoi began to clean the tombstone. "When we were about to finish our first year as a band, I thought I knew everything about music." He began after a long period of uncomfortable silence. "So I started to write my own song, it was horrible and childish, and I knew it and I was embarrassed by it."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He paused and looked toward Wakouji's grave. "Wakouji caught me trying to hide it out of embarrassment and stopped me, he told me that no matter how wonderful or awful a song is, you should never hide it, music is supposed to be free, not hidden in a dark room somewhere."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi paused for a moment and then looked down at his own hands, almost as if realizing what he had done. "Thank you Takuto." He whispered./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto put on his lopsided grin and nudged his shoulder. "Don't thank me, it was Wakouji who said it." He laughed and pointed to the grave./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi could only smile and nod before looking at the grave. "Thank you Wakouji."/p


	16. She Can't Sing The Song

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Sixteen/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"She Can't Sing The Song/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With the dress on, all the make up on, the hot spot lights as well as the other lighting, burning down on the stage and illuminating Mitsuki, as well as the lack of air conditioning in the concert hall; Takuto had to guess that for Mitsuki it had to be 40 degrees Celsius on that stage. He felt bad for the poor girl, she was already struggling through the song, missing beats, going off key in certain parts, and overall stumbling through it. Of course it didn't help that the media had listed this song as the 'Lost Song of Route L' to help add to the pressure./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As a body guard Takuto wondered why he had come, the theater seemed to be surrounded by a small army due to the fever pitch of interest that had spiked the moment the song was announced. Tickets for the first concert tour was already sold out, three back orders of the single had been sold out as well. So with all the hype and interest no one was going to get within several kilometers of the theater without being spotted and stopped./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Eternal Snow they had decided to call it, Takuto had lobbied hard for Eternal Loneliness, but Hazuki had come up with Eternal Snow and she had a advantage when it came to the decision making./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No, no Mitsuki stop, everyone stop." Aoi rose from the back of the theater, his own face soaked in sweat, it seemed as if Mitsuki wasn't the only one feeling the stress. "You have to raise your voice at that part." He continued as Takuto's phone buzzed in his pocket./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He softly rose from the theater seat and began to move toward the door, catching Mitsuki's attention, her make up already beginning to run down her face from the sweat. Takuto held up his phone to signal he wasn't leaving for good before he turned and went toward the back of the theater./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What do you want Hikari?" He asked, bringing the phone to his ear. For the last two days she had been calling him nonstop, from 7 am in the morning to 2 am at night he would receive somewhere around eighty calls from her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto?" Hikari's voice sounded overjoyed to finally get ahold of him. "I'm coming back to Tokyo, please don't hang up." She spoke quickly as Takuto leaned against the doorway at the back of the theater./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm not going to hang up." He replied bluntly, the tone of his voice icy cold./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I made a mistake, I am so sorry, I want to be with you, not this stupid job, I'm coming home." She rambled on, her voice shaky and with the slight hint of a sob. The sound of her voice was almost enough to make Takuto forget that she had ran out on him, taking all of their stuff and moving out on his moment of need./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto, please forgive me, I love you." Her words were enough to grab Takuto's attention./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"By now Aoi was beginning to walk back to his chair, and the band was beginning to get off stage. "I'll see you when you get back." He paused for a moment before adding. "I loved you too." He wondered if she caught the past tense before turning off the phone and heading to meet Aoi./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi shook his head, his eyes looked sunken and the lines on his face looked even more pronounced. "This was a mistake, we're two weeks before the debut of the single and she keeps having trouble."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He looked up at Takuto before moving toward the door and resting his forehead against it. "It's not her fault, when we recorded her first single it was like any other pop song girls her age listen to, it was easy to emulate. This is a love song, a song filled with emotion about love and longing, how can I expect her to be able to truly understand that when she hasn't even been in love, or even had a boyfriend before."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto cleared his throat, feeling a bit uncomfortable but let Aoi continue. "We're ending the rehersal for today, I'm going to take her home and maybe go over some of the old concert tapes, see if that can help her."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto nodded in agreement and placed his hand on her shoulder. "She will get it." He reassured his friend before heading off to check on Mitsuki./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt are you decent?" Takuto cracked open the door to find Mitsuki rubbing down her hair with a towel, already wearing her spare set of clothing so that the concert outfit could be rushed to the cleaners for the next rehearsal./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I really screwed up huh?" Mitsuki asked, her voice sounding solemn./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto plopped down on the couch across from her chair and stretched out. "Your father can get pretty worked up when it comes to his songs, you should have seen all the times I screwed up." He laughed it off as Mitsuki slowly began to smile./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""So who called you?" Mitsuki asked curiously/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Oh just one of my ex girlfriends." He wasn't wanting to mention any names, and instead decided to pass it off as if he always got calls from ex girlfriends./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Ex girlfriends?" How many ex girlfriends do you have?" Mitsuki asked, her tired voice having a slight twinge of jealousy as Takuto froze up on the couch, not expecting her to ask that./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto held up three fingers and began to count them off. "You know about Sakura and Hikari, then there is Miya."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Miya?" Mitsuki asked curiously as she started to put in her pigtails with the curler./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She's a girl I met while I was with Route L, I only knew her for a little bit so I guess she wouldn't count as a ex girlfriend." Takuto shrugged as Mitsuki continued to curl the pigtails before finishing and stepped out of her chair and went for the door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I just remember she was pretty special." Takuto added, placing a hand behind her back and softly guiding her toward the waiting limo./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It was already past midnight by the time they had finished with the third concert tape from the old Route L days, it had taken Aoi over a hour to dig them out, and even longer to give Mitsuki a proper explanation as to what she should focus on when watching the tapes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As Aoi went up to change out the tape, Takuto wondered if he had noticed that Mitsuki had already fallen asleep half way through the last one, her head laying comfortably in Takuto's lap. "Aoi, I think that's enough for tonight." Takuto whispered, slowly picking Mitsuki up in his arms./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi turned back and his heart sank a bit, he hadn't even noticed that his daughter had fallen asleep. "I'll show her more tomorrow." He sighed and began to pack up the tapes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto gave him a small nod and began to carry Mitsuki off to her room. "Hope you are having a happy dream, Squirt." Takuto whispered as he laid her down on the bed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki awoke to the sound of a blaring car horn, the smell in the alley way was rank and awful, she was wearing the same clothes that she had fallen asleep in but they were stained with water and oil, as well as many different other fluids she didn't even want to guess. The pigtails in her hair were undone, and drenched in oil and slime, making her hair a sticky mess./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Where am I?" She whispered gazing around at the damp and unfamiliar alleyway./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Another car rushed by and somewhere in the distance a cat cried out in terror. Mitsuki leapt to her feet, her hands clasped together in fear. "Takuto? Where are you?" She mumbled, her voice trembling as the faint sound of cheers could be heard from just outside of the alley./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Curiosity got the best of her and she began to head for the exit, she had taken her shoes off when she got home, thus her bare feet walked along the concrete floor, splashing puddles filled with rainwater and oil./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As she peeked around the corner of the alley she could see a large crowd having gathered just outside of a music store just about thirty meters away. She had heard about the long lines of people waiting just to sign up for the waiting list for eternal snow, was this one of those lines?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She moved to the back of the crowd, her view of the front of the store blocked by hundreds of tall adults and teenagers all pushing forward to get a better view. "Does anyone have a phone?" She asked, only to receive no response. If she could just make it to the music store she could call Takuto or Aoi and have them come pick her up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Excuse me." Mitsuki slowly began to slip through the crowd, her small size allowing her to easily weave between the adults before finally arriving near the front where she could finally spot a small stage set up at the front of the music store with large speakers and a mic set up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Excuse me does anyone have a.." Her voice was cut off as a even louder voice came through the loud speaker./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""And may I present the singer of Route L: Takuto Kira!" The crowd went wild as Mitsuki grabbed her ears from the deafening roar. A young boy, no older than her emerged from the front of the store and quicky strolled up to the stage and grabbed the microphone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""EH?! TAKUTO?!" Mitsuki gasped in shock./p 


	17. Mitsuki and Route L

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Seventeen/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Mitsuki and Route L/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A cold chill ran through the air, outside the crowd that had lined up outside of the music store seemed to grow with every gathering minute, many of them already packing jackets and coats from the quick onset of winter weather that had swept across Japan. Route L was finishing its third tour of the year, this one to celebrate the ending of their first year as a band, which included numerous stops at local music stores to sign autographs and meet fans./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's turn had finally come up, with both Wakouji and Aoi taking the last two appearances. The near dawn appearance seemed to light the surrounding buildings in beautiful reds and yellows, but all he wanted to do was go back to the apartment and watch anime. The announcer boomed his voice and the crowd cheered in response. Knowing that was his cue, Takuto let out a sigh and exited the store his skin instantly growing chill bumps as he walked up to the platform and began to wave to the crowd./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Having done several of these already, and having watched his friends do even more, Takuto just allowed his body to go onto autopilot, smiling at the right parts, replying with cute answers at the right parts, basically doing the same thing he had done several times before already. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a girl push her way to the front of the crowd, she looked dirty and disgusting, much like he had before Aoi and Wakouji had found him living on the street./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Every few minutes he would glance in her direction to make sure she was still there, and by the time the event was over and he was walking off the stage to prepare for the autograph signing he already knew what he was going to say./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""That girl that was standing in the crowd, can you get her?" Takuto asked pulling the manager of the store aside the moment he was inside out of the cold, his teeth already chattering slightly./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""The skid? Yes sir I'll ask security to remove her immediately." The manager replied./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto began to curl his fists in anger. 'Skid' was a crude slur that was being used during the recession to describe the many unfortuanate homeless men, women, and children that seemed to litter the streets of Tokyo. Just a year before he would have been considered a 'skid' too. "You idiot!" He spat, resisting the urge to hit him. "I want you to take her into the back and get her some food and make sure she is warm and comfortable."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He pointed his shaking finger infront of the store manager's face. "If you don't do it, I'll make sure Aoi hears about it and you will never get us to come to your store again!" His voice shook in anger as the manager slowly backed away and then hurried off to fulfill his orders, cursing the diva child after he was out of Takuto's ear shot./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki was led gently through the store into a back room where she was given a cookie and some hot tea, just moments before she had been standing idly outside unsure of what to do next as the crowd began to file into the store, when a portly balding manager came rushing out and directed her to follow him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She remained in the small room for hours, a small puddle forming at her feet from the constant dripping of rain water off her clothing. She had just finished her second tea when the door open and Takuto slowly walked in, his mouth forming a yawn as he snatched up a soda from the array of food and drinks set aside for him by the bookstore staff./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto." Mitsuki whispered, her eyes focused on the cute young boy who chugged the soft drink with passion./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Blah" Takuto groaned and wiped his mouth before tossing the can into the trash. "I feel like my hands are about to fall off." He winced and flexed his fingers before turning to Mitsuki./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Are you okay? Did they treat you okay? If not I am going to yell at that manager." His voice rose with a child like passion causing Mitsuki to sit as far back in her chair./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I-I'm fine, and they treated me okay." She pointed to the small glass of tea on the table, her voice shaking a bit at how quickly and passionate the questions came from Takuto./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto slid into his chair and began to rummage through his jeans pocket for his cell phone. "Atleast he wasn't totally worthless." He mumbled to himself, speaking of the manager as he pulled out his cell phone. "Is there anyone I can call to help?" He asked, flipping open the bottom of the cell./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki was taken aback by the look of the cell phone for a second, it wasn't the slender colorful ones she was used to, but a large thick gray one, that had to be double the size of the one her father had to give her, with absolutely no colorful graphic screen, instead it contained a small black screen that displayed only the numbers being dialed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She quickly rambled off the number to the home phone which Takuto promptly dialed in, after two rings the operator's robotic voice came over the speaker saying that the number was out of service or had been disconnected./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Looks like their phones got cut off." Takuto frowned and placed the cell phone back into his pocket. He paused for a second before heading to the door. "C'mon at least you can come over to Aoi's apartment and get cleaned up, maybe Wakouji will know what to do." He suggested as Mitsuki's eyes widened in shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"If Takuto was this young, than that meant her father was younger, and it meant Wakouji was still alive, which would explain why she couldn't call home./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What's your name?" He asked giving her a goofy grin as he led her to the waiting limo./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsu..." Mitsuki stopped herself, if she called herself Mitsuki, she had no idea what would happen, especially if Aoi heard her name. "Miya." She corrected herself, spotting the name on a book as she passed through the bookstore./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Miya." Takuto repeated, thinking how a cute name was fitting for such a cute girl./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"'How could they live without a curling iron?' Mitsuki wondered to herself as she scavenged through the bathroom drawers, Takuto had taken her back to her father's apartment or atleast what she thought was her father's apartment and let her borrow some of his clothes and shower while her own clothes were taken downstairs for cleaning./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Having to forgo the pigtails Mitsuki ended up combing out her long hair and allowing it to trail down the black shirt and shorts that Takuto had lent her. "Hey squirt we're back." A older male voice called out, as the front door opened. "Squirt are you here?" The voice called out again as the door to the bathroom opened revealing a tall man with long blonde hair that trailed down his back./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""T-Takuto, you have done something with your hair." He blinked in shock, as Mitsuki shrieked at the sight of the sudden man having walked into the bathroom./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What the hell?" Aoi swore throwing down the grocery bags and running into the bathroom, his eyes widening in shock at the sight of the young girl wearing Takuto's clothing. "TAKUTO!" He shouted at the top of his lungs./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I can explain!" Takuto yelled, throwing open the door of his room and running full speed across the living room, nearly tripping over the sofa in the process. "She was in trouble, and I can't get ahold of her parents, so I thought you may be able to help." He explained./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi rubbed his forehead in frustration, he was overjoyed that Takuto had done a good deed, and that he had began to show signs of growing into such a respectable young man. But of all the nights it had to be the one he had planned a dinner with Hazuki to finally introduce her to his two friends. "Well it can't be helped, we're already behind schedule, so we will deal with this after we get back from dinner, so hurry up and get ready"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto bristled at the comment. "What do you mean get ready? I am ready!" He shot back./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Wakouji leaned over and sniffed the air around Takuto. "Ready to be hauled off with the trash, now take a shower." He grabbed the young boy by the ear and directed him into the bathroom, a deep blush of embarrassment on his face as he walked past Mitsuki, who was doing her best not to giggle./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""So what is your name?" Aoi asked after Wakouji slid the bathroom door shut, guarding it so that Takuto wouldn't try to sneak out without bathing first./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Miya, Miya Koyama sir." Mitsuki squeaked, saddened and overjoyed at the same time that her father did not recognize her. Although she had already pretty much assumed as much, seeing how much younger and relaxed he looked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi ran his fingers through his hair as if he was thinking of the right thing to say. "Well when we get back we will try to find your parents or a relative, I know if it was my daughter that was lost I would be worried out of my mind."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki blushed in embarrassment and lowered her head as Wakouji spoke up. "I'm just sorry it had to come tonight."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What do you mean?" Mitsuki asked turning to him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"This time it was Aoi to speak. "We're going to disband Route L at the end of the year."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's eyes widened in shock. "EH?! DISBAND?!"/p 


	18. Breaking Up The Band

Chapter Eighteen

Breaking Up The Band

The room was bathed in a gentle golden light, far above the chandelier glistened with a million jewels, in the distance the sound of a gentle orchestra could be heard. The restaurant was for the upper elite of Tokyo society, and it certainly showed, the forks were made of gold, the food looked as expensive as it was tasty, and all around the group were men and women dressed in clothes that cost more than most cars.

"I feel a bit out of place." Mitsuki whispered, sitting to Takuto's side at the large table, still wearing the clothes Takuto had loaned her.

"Oh you are so adorable, Miya!" Hazuki smiled, gazing at Mitsuki, causing her to squirm and blush in her chair. She couldn't believe how much her mom looked like her, it was as if she was gazing at a mirror image of herself just a few years from now. "When I have a daughter I want her to be just as cute."

This time it was Aoi who blushed and squirmed uncomfortably. "So the reason I called you all here.." He began, clearing his throat as Takuto and Mitsuki exchanged glances. "I have been offered a job with Quintillion Quiz to write for them, and Wakouji has been offered to join the University of Tokyo in their Spring Semester."

"What about the band?" Takuto asked incredulously, straightening up in his chair, unable to get what Aoi was hinting at.

Aoi took in a deep breath and looked down "We're breaking up the band Takuto, it's been fun but its time we go our own way."

"WHAT?!" Takuto slammed his hands on the table, rising up from the table in shock, causing many of the patrons at the other table to look over at his outburst. His eyes brimmed with tears as he glared daggers at Aoi. "You have no right!" He spat at Aoi before turning and running out of the restaurant, nearly knocking over a waitress on his way out.

Aoi rose to go after him but Mitsuki was already out of her chair, and in a full sprint calling Takuto's name. "Well, he took it better than I thought." He sighed, touching and rubbing Hazuki's hand for support.

Mitsuki rushed out of the restaurant, sweat dripping down her cheek as she shook her head left and then right, trying to spot Takuto. She was just about to run off in a random direction when she heard the soft sound of a bottle skidding across the pavement. In the dim lit sidewalk to her left she could begin to make out Takuto as he randomly kicked objects in his path, not caring what they hit.

"Takuto!" Mitsuki ran to him, already panting from the cold air that tightened her lungs with each breath.

"Damn it." Takuto muttered under his breath, not about Mitsuki's appearance but at the whole situation. "I never should have trusted that damn liar." He swore again, kicking a stone into the path of a car traveling down the street.

Mitsuki clutched her chest, her breath still coming out ragged as she slowed to walk along Takuto's side. "Who are you talking about?" She asked, the light just enough to spot the glistening tears in Takuto's eyes.

"Adults!" He blew up, nearly yelling at the top of his lungs. "They are all the same! They take you in, and let you believe everything is okay! And then they find someone else, or find a different job, and suddenly you just are not that important to them anymore." He clutched his fists in anger.

"Your parents... they left you." Mitsuki whispered as it dawned on her what happened.

"I HATE it!" He screamed in anger, punching a street lamp with all his strength, a bloody mark being left where his fist hit.

"Takuto!" Mitsuki cried out, grabbing his bloody fist and searched for something to wrap it in.

Takuto winced and looked away as Mitsuki began to wrap his hand with the napkin she had used at the restaurant. "Dad won't leave you, he thinks of you as a son." She said, not realizing she had called Aoi 'Dad'.

Takuto glanced down at his feet, the napkin quickly becoming soaked in blood. "How do you know that? How do you know he won't leave the minute the band is gone? "

"I don't know..." Mitsuki mumbled, not wanting to expose her true relationship with Aoi.

Slowly Takuto's eyes rose up to look at Mitsuki, a idea forming in his head. "That is unless we stop him from accepting the job offer!" He grabbed Mitsuki's hands. "Miya we have to stop that acceptance letter before he mails it off, will you help me?!" He asked his voice filled with excitement as she clutched Mitsuki's hands.

"Y-Yes." Mitsuki nodded, a look of surprise and shock on her face.

It was already past midnight in Aoi's apartment, a gentle light coming through the window into the living room from the apartment next door. Mitsuki had been offered to sleep on the couch since neither Aoi nor Hazuki were able to contact any relative of her's. Which she knew would happen anyway. Mitsuki also knew that one day she would have to reveal the truth if she could not find some way to get back home.

A long slow sigh came from Mitsuki's lips as she rolled over onto her back and gazed up at the ceiling. Could she live in the past? Grow up with Takuto and Route L? Watch her father get married? And if she got back, she still kept screwing up on Eternal Snow.

A light came on in the kitchen, drawing Mitsuki's attention as someone searched through the fridge before pulling out a glass and pouring a drink. "Mr. Wakouji?" Mitsuki asked, catching sight of his long hair as he closed the fridge.

"Miya?" He whispered from the doorway of the kitchen, a glass of milk in his hands. "I was just getting a..." He glanced at the clock. "2 am snack, did I wake you squirt?"

Mitsuki blushed, remembering how Takuto always called her that. "Actually, I couldn't sleep." She glanced down at her hands as Wakouji made his way over to her and sat at the opposite end of the couch, making sure not to sit on her feet.

"We will find your parents, or a relative that you can stay with, or I am sure Aoi would let you stay here." Wakouji sipped his glass of milk before giving her a reassuring smile.

Mitsuki shook her head. "It's not that." She didn't want to admit it was her fear of never returning to the present, so instead thought about her troubles with Eternal Snow. "There is this song that my father wrote, I keep trying to sing it but I can never get it right."

Wakouji sat the glass down, now interested. "I didn't know you were a singer."

"I just hate screwing up a song that means so much to my father, he wrote it as a love song to my mother." She explained, feeling relieved to actually get the weight of those words off her shoulders.

Wakouji ran his fingers through his hair, gazing up at the ceiling for a second. "Well your first probably is trying to sing the song like your father wants it, you have to make the song yours, he wrote it about your mother, well is there anyone that you love?" He asked

Mitsuki glanced at Takuto's door, her gaze lingering for a moment before turning back to Wakouji and nodded. "Well when you are singing it, try to imagine the words being directed at him, try to feel as if you are singing to him." He explained, placing his hand on Mitsuki's knee. "Your father wrote the song with your mother in mind, when he hears it he relates those feelings to it, you need to make the song about your feelings to whoever you love, don't try to copy what your father feels, express how you feel."

Mitsuki slowly took in his words, thinking about everything he was saying. "Don't try to copy my father, make it my own." She repeated, as she slowly realized she had been wrong all along. She had to use the song to project her own feelings, not try to mirror her father's feelings.

"Thank you Mr. Wakouji." She smiled as he gently laid her back down and tucked her in.

"Now get some sleep squirt." He patted her head before heading back off to his room.

As Mitsuki slowly drifted off to sleep, her mind was filled with ideas as to how she could use the song to project her feelings about Takuto to everyone. She wanted to share those feelings, and when she got back home, she knew she would do just that.


	19. Saving The Band

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Nineteen/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Saving The Band/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki drew her denim jacket closer to her body, a thick wind seemed to wash across the street, whipping trash and leaves into the air. She had been grateful to her father for cleaning her clothes, but if she knew that she would be out in winter like weather she would have worn something a bit more warmer before she was transported back in time./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her and Takuto had been waiting for several hours in the biting wind, waiting for the postman to come and empty the mail box that Aoi used for the apartment building. She had wondered why Takuto couldn't just get the key to the mail box but apparently he had a much easier plan in mind./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"They would wait for the mailman to arrive, and when he wasn't looking would replace the letter Aoi wrote to Quintillion Quiz for the letter Takuto wrote rejecting the job offer. Of course the distraction would be provided by Mitsuki herself who would ask annoying question after annoying question while Takuto snuck up behind him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"br /"Maybe he's not coming?" Mitsuki asked her teeth chattering as their eyes remained locked on the row of mailboxes outside of the apartment./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto sighed, his breath coming out in a short white puff of hot air. Neither of them could go inside and warm up, despite how much he wanted to let Miya go take a break. If they were not ready to spring at a moment's notice everything could be lost./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Here let me take your hands." He suggested, his hands clasping around her trembling fingers. Back and forth he began to rub, a gentle blush came to both of their faces as he began to warm up Mitsuki's fingers./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"After a minute of rubbing Takuto took his gaze off her fingers and looked up into her big beautiful brown eyes. He couldn't remember being this close to a girl, and even though Sakura still stung in his heart after she had started dating another boy, he couldn't help but feel his heart go wild whenever he would get close to Miya./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto!" Mitsuki cried in panic, spotting the mailman over his shoulder. He had already finished emptying the three boxes for the apartment and had gone back to his moped./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto swore in frustration, he had expected him to be on foot, not on a miniature motorized scooter. "What are we going to do?" Mitsuki panicked as Takuto's eyes quickly scanned the side walk before taking off toward a kid on a bicycle./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""How much?" He ran up to the kid, pulling out a wad of money from the wallet that Aoi had given him for his birthday. "How much to use your bike?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""10,000 Yen." The kid replied, smirking like the little brat that Takuto could tell he was./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Grabbing more than enough, Takuto flung it at the brat and hopped onto the bike. "Get on!" He motioned for Mitsuki who rushed over./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Where?!" She asked as Takuto pointed to two bars sticking out of the back wheel./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Stand on those and hang on." He explained, having seen other children do it before in the past. In the distance he could already see the mailman getting further and further away. He had no idea where his next stop would be, and if they didn't hurry they would lose him for good./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With shaky legs Mitsuki climbed on, her arms wrapped around Takuto's stomach as she buried her head into his back. "Just don't go too.." Her voice was cut off by a sharp scream as Takuto sped off, peddling as hard as his little legs would take them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What ever you do don't look up" Takuto yelled back, weaving through traffic as fast as he could, narrowly missing pedestrians and bystanders who seemed to fill more and more of the sidewalk with every passing second./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"They were catching up to him, but at the rate the side walk was filling up with people as they went further into the shopping district, they would be forced to slow down. "Hang on!" Takuto screamed, over the howling wind./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki let out another scream as they popped the sidewalk, suddenly they were not on the even flat pavement of the sidewalk, but on the gravely surface of the road. The driver that Takuto had cut off swerved to miss them and pounded on his horn in frustration./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Was that a car?!" Mitsuki asked, her fingers digging in even tighter into Takuto's shirt./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm taking a short cut." He winced at the feeling of her nails into his chest, as he made a quick turn, the mailman had slowed from the traffic as well and was beginning to pull up to the next apartment building./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto eased onto the breaks and hopped back onto the sidewalk, as Mitsuki gently began to relax her fingers. "Your on." His voice coming out in ragged gasps as they both tried to catch their breath./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki slowly climbed off the bike, her legs shaking from the chase, for a moment Takuto wondered if she wouldn't be up for it, but sure enough after a few steps she had composed herself and was walking straight up to the mailman./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto waited a moment before climbing off the bike himself, and dropped into a crouch, sneaking over to the man like a ninja and gently moving his fingers into the mailbag. He could hear Mitsuki asking question after question and knew he didn't have much time, he began to thumb through the letters as quickly as possible./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He saw Mitsuki glanced down at him, a look of fear on her face as she struggled to think of more questions. He flipped to the next letter and a sigh escaped his lips, it was addressed to Quintillion Quiz and in Aoi's hand writing. He slipped the letter out of the bag, and quickly replaced it with his own from his jacket pocket./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Thank you." Mitsuki bowed as the mail man smiled and bowed as well. Takuto in turn stumbled back, his legs giving out from exhaustion and stress as the mailman went on his way to the next stop./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto!" She rushed to his side, kneeling down next to him as he held up the letter, a grin slowly appearing across his face. "You did it!" She cried out, throwing his arms around him as Takuto allowed the letter to flutter away./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""M-Miya." Takuto blushed in embarrassment, his arms slowly wrapping around her shivering body./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Now Dad will stay in Route L.." Mitsuki whispered, her head resting on Takuto's shoulder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Dad?" He asked, suddenly remembering she had said something about her father before./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Before Mitsuki could respond, her attention was drawn away by a voice, at first it was far away and unfamiliar, and then it got closer, and closer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki wake up!" Aoi shook his daughter gently for the third time. "We're going to be late for rehearsal." He said again, as her eyes slowly began to flutter open. Maybe he had worked her too hard over the past few days to finish Eternal Snow, it might not hurt to cut back her rehearsal time just a bit./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Ten more minutes." Mitsuki groaned, her fingers tightening around the covers as she rolled over./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi let out a long sigh, the rehearsal could wait just a few more minutes. "Ten more minutes." He replied and bent down to kiss his daughter's hair./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto groaned and pulled the box into the storage house, with Aoi and Hazuki getting ready for the rehearsal, and everyone else performing their morning duties, the responsibility had fallen onto him to put back up all the Route L memorabilia that they had taken down to show Mitsuki the night before. The night before both Aoi and Takuto had taken the box down due to the weight, now he was forced to carry it all back without someone to share the weight with./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Bending down, he grasped the box from both sides and slowly using his knees, lifted it to his waist. Taking several deep breaths he brought it up and over his head. He took one step toward the shelf, and then another, and then his left leg wobbled and slipped, sending both him and the box falling to the ground./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Ow, ow, ow." He groaned, picking himself back up. Even in the cramped space of the storage house, all the different items that had been in the box still found a way to spread out around the room, instead of in a nice neat pile like he had hoped./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Fighting the urge to just leave it and head off for the rehearsal, Takuto began to fill the box again, only to stop as his hands came across a picture frame. The picture was of the night that Aoi had taken all of them to dinner to meet Hazuki and announce he was leaving Route L, the restaurant had taken it for them just as they had been seated, and minutes before Aoi had dropped the /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"But the history of the picture wasn't important, instead his eyes was drawn to the girl that was sitting next to him. If he remembered correctly, he believed her name was: Miya. Even in the dimly lit room, he was shocked at how much she looked like Mitsuki, her long brown hair, her brown eyes that seemed to burn with the same youth and energy that Mitsuki had, even the roundness of her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto are you done?" Aoi called out to him from the car./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He quickly placed the picture back into the box, and vowed to clean up when he got back. For a moment he wondered what ever happened to Miya, she had disappeared days after they had met. He hoped she had found her parents and had gone off to live with them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Coming." He replied, as he turned and went off to meet Aoi./p 


	20. Do I love him?

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Do I love him?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The smell of stale donuts and bland coffee hung in the air, the steady stream of mid day sunlight filtered through the blinds highlighting the dust in the air of the upper level office building for Seed Records. Madoka made her way across the waiting room, her red hair flowing down her neck and her tight striped top that drew more than a few looks from men, and envious women. Despite the pleading of her manager she had decided she was going to make sure that every eye was on her when she entered the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mr. Takasu?" Madoka asked shyly as she entered the room, her confident attitude switching to one more fitting a shy school girl than a free spirited singer, but she knew how to play people and a confident head strong artist would get her nowhere with her producer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takasu looked up, his slick back black hair and glasses made him extremely attractive at his age, and even Madoka had to blush at his handsome looks. "I have heard a rumor that my next single has been pushed back five months."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takasu returned to the papers in front of him, his interest in the egotistical singer having been lost. "It's true, as your producer I decided to move the single outside of the blast zone of Eternal Snow."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In the entertainment industry the blast zone was a period around the release of a very hyped event be it a song, video game, or a movie. The theory was that everyone would be saving their money, or rushing to see the event that money would not be spent on anything else./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""How could you do such a thing? I know my song is good enough to compete with that little brat!" Madoka's temper flared for a second before she was able to regain her composer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takasu stopped writing for a moment, his pen frozen on the paper. "I have heard part of Eternal Snow." He spoke dryly, his gaze slowly rising to match Madoka's who quickly flinched and glanced away. "Your song does not come close."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The statement hit Madoka like a punch to the face, she knew some of the producers had been given small cuts of Eternal Snow, but for some reason she didn't expect Takasu had been one of them. "You were the one that insisted on choosing your own songs, and the one you decided on just did not match up." He continued./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I can get a better song, I can find a song that would beat even Eternal Snow!" Madoka pleaded, her hands falling onto his desk. "Please, give me a chance."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takasu placed the pen back down on his desk, and slowly rose from his chair, a deep sigh escaping his lips. "You have one week to bring me this song, and I will be the one to judge what it does and does not beat."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki sighed and remained at her desk in the dressing room, outside she could hear the celebratory cheers as the latest numbers came out for the pre orders for Eternal Snow. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, in the past three days she had turned away almost any doubt she could sing Eternal Snow, and now they had just one more practice run before she recorded her single. Doubt that she could do it, had quickly turned into excitement, and she could even see her father beaming with pride in the back of the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Yet she didn't feel like celebrating, for all she did with the song, there was still one part she wasn't sure about. 'I love you Takuto' was what she had written on a scratch piece of paper. In the past few weeks they had only kissed a few times, and held hands in private, but both of them considered themselves a couple, even if no one else knew about it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Even thinking of holding his firm hand, or feeling him wrap his arms around her caused a rush of emotions and energy to leap from her stomach into her chest, and cause her face to go warm. She had wondered for days, is this what love felt like? The lyrics of Eternal Snow called for her to sing 'I love you' several times in English, but it still felt wrong when she hadn't even said those words to Takuto./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki? Is something wrong?" Hazuki softly opened the door and stepped into the room. With everything building to the final product, Hazuki had canceled almost all of her appointments during the time of Mitsuki's auditions and had come to sit in the front row with Takuto to watch her sing./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Nothing!" Mitsuki scrambled to crumple up the paper and toss it under the desk./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hazuki paused at the door, her parental instincts telling her to press forward. "You have been under a lot of stress lately, are you sure it is nothing?" She asked, making her way to the couch across the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki squirmed a bit in her chair for a moment, unsure of what to say. "It's this boy." The words left her mouth before she even realized what she had said./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Oh" The words almost came out of Hazuki's lips like a gasp, her little girl was growing up and that filled her with joy and fear at the same time. She made a mental note to look into who this boy was, she didn't want to be a prying mother but the last thing she wanted was to have her little girl hurt by a dangerous boy./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's gaze never left her hands, the weight on her shoulders that had been building these last few days as she struggled with the idea of how to tell Takuto how she felt began to grow heavier and heavier. "I just don't know what to say, how to tell him how I feel."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hazuki drummed her fingers on her legs, something she did when she was either thinking or nervous, in this situation she was both. She settled on trying to talking about her first boyfriend and how she finally confessed to him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You know I had trouble confessing to the first boy I fell in love with too, I bet every girl does." She began, as Mitsuki's eyes lit up and met her own. "It was a few years before I met your father, I was about your age too, and he was so cute."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She paused for a moment to smile as she remembered the events from decades ago. "But as much as I fretted and worried about it, the confession came at the spur of a moment, we were running for cover from the rain, he gave me his coat to shield me, and we finally huddled under a overpass. He used the sleeve of his coat to dry my face, and I just blurted out 'I love you'."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki sighed happily, it was such a romantic story and she could imagine Takuto stroking the droplets of water off her face, a loving look in his eyes as he gazed at her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hazuki placed her hands over her daughter's and smiled. "What I am trying to say is that it will come natually, it may come today, tomorrow, or next month, but just allow your heart to guide you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki gazed up at her mom and smiled, grinning from ear to ear she nodded. "Okay!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka's feet pounded on the wet pavement, the rain slapped at her face, stinging like a million pin pricks as she made her way across the park. Her jogging outfit was soaked and clung to her body, the hood pulled over her face to keep her identity hidden from any prying eyes who may have spotted her. She had purposely chosen to meet during a rain storm to keep the chances of running into the media or any idiot with a camera phone at a bare minimum./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her foot slipped on the wet surface, and she almost fell, but her hand caught the slick railing along the path and quickly steadied herself. By now she could see her target, a underpass along the trail where she could spot the outline of a man waiting for her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You know I was almost sure you wouldn't come." He called out to her as Madoka slowed and quietly walked into the underpass, and pulled the hood over her drenched hair, sweat and water clung to her face, causing it to glisten in the light from the lamps positioned along the path./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""When I heard that Madoka was looking for me, I thought: No it couldn't be her, she is too smart to sink down to the level of scum like myself." He laughed at the self deprecating joke. The man was simply known as Dorobou or Thief, in the entertainment industry he was mainly used for corporate espionage, stealing embarrassing secrets of artists in rival companies./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I want to be clear, Seed Records is not hiring you, I am, this job is for me and no one else." She stated bluntly, her arms crossed across her chest in a defensive manner./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say dear, so what do you want me to do? Did your producer piss you off? Your manager?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I want you to steal the lyrics to Eternal Snow." Madoka replied coldly, her eyes narrowing in cold firm resolution./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eternal Snow? That is quite a challenge the only two copies of lyrics are at the house of Little Mitsuki." He explained as Madoka quickly held up a hand to silence him, she knew where it was and that is why she had come to him, if she was going to make a song to beat Eternal Snow she had to know what she was up against first./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Can you do it or should I find someone who can?" She asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Even in the shadows she could see a devious, evil smile cross his face. "I'll have you the lyrics for Eternal Snow by Friday."/p 


	21. A Death In The Family

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty One/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"A Death In The Family/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The suit itched, the material rubbed against Takuto's skin as the jacket seemed to constrain his movement. Worse yet he found himself fumbling with the tie trying to get it to match the picture on the computer. He never much was a suit person, but today was a special day, today was the final day of production on Eternal Snow. Mitsuki had just finished recording the song a hour or two ago and now the crew was preparing a large party at a local club. Already rumors were circulating and he had began to hear reports from Kato that the media were already camping out as close as possible to get video of them walking in./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""If Aoi isn't coming then I get the first dance." Takuto teased playfully, fidgeting again with the tie as he spoke to Mitsuki over his cell phone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He could hear Mitsuki fidget in embarrassment on the other end of the phone. "Takuto, there is something special I want to tell you tonight." Her voice sounded uneasy, as if she was trying to find the right words to say it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Alright spill it." He pulled the tie off and began again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No, tonight at the dance." Mitsuki insisted./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""How do I look?" Hikari asked from across the room, stepping out in a shimmering Champaign colored dress that seemed to sparkle in the dim light of the room, her hair was curled up in a bun, just how Takuto liked it and her face was highlighted with just a slight hint of makeup./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"One thing Takuto had forgotten to tell Mitsuki was that he had broken down and invited Hikari to the party. Over the past two weeks she had been doing her best to make up for past wrong doing, and no matter what happened, she was still his friend and he didn't want her to feel left out, besides it was just a harmless party./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eh? Takuto? Who's that?" Mitsuki asked from the cell phone as Hikari came over, pressing her body close to Takuto as she helped him with his tie./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto couldn't help blush at the closeness, his face turning several shades of red as he pulled away the second Hikari was done. "It's Hikari, I invited her to the party tonight." He said mater of factly, trying to pass it off as no big deal./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki paused for a second before finally replying "Oh, I can't wait to meet her again!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto knew she didn't like it, he knew that she was angry at Hikari for all the trouble she had caused him, but one of the many things, too many things to even count, that he loved about Mitsuki was that she would never come out and say that, she was too sweet to do that, instead she focused on the positive of the situation./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'll see you at the party squirt." He quickly put down the phone, the tension easing from his body. He would find a way to make it up to Mitsuki, maybe he would find a way to sneak her out on a date this weekend./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hikari sauntered toward him, looking like a preditor who had just captured her prey in a trap. "Did I do something wrong?" She asked mischeviously, her finger trailing down Takuto's cheek./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto shook his head and moved away, he had seen this trick before and while Hikari may not know it, his heart belonged to Mitsuki, not her. "We should get going, Kato will want to make a security check of the club with me before Mitsuki arrives." He said dryly before heading to the door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Humming Eternal Snow, Mitsuki slowly applied the lipstick, her desk was littered with toilet paper where she had wiped off her make up to reapply it again. Tonight was special, tonight would be the night that she told Takuto her true feelings as they danced to her new song. But the thought that Hikari, Takuto's ex girlfriend would be there added even more stress to a already stressful night./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In her mind's eye she could imagine the scene, they were at the club and Takuto would wave off her feelings, saying "Sorry Mitsuki, I only love adult women" he would laugh and then run off with Hikari, arm and arm./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The lipstick slipped, leaving a deep red line trailing across her cheek as she shook her head in frustration, trying to banish the thoughts from her mind. "Takuto would never do that." She tried to reassure herself, as she cleaned off the excess lipstick./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She glanced toward the corner of the room, where the dress that she was supposed to wear for her first concert for Eternal snow laid on the floor. It took alot of begging and pleading but she had finally been given permission from the staff to sneak the costume out and wear it tonight. She wanted to look beautiful for Takuto, and now with Hikari there she worried even more that she just wouldn't measure up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki?" Her grandmother opened the door curiously, before Mitsuki could cover up the makeup she was already inside, her eyes widening in shock as her gaze shifted back and forth from the make up to the dress in the corner. "What is the meaning of this?!" She asked, her voice raising in anger./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm getting ready for the party tonight, everyone put it together because we finished Eternal Snow." Mitsuki explained as her grandmother glared down at the makeup./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No grandchild of mine is going to go out wearing makeup, and dressed in that!" She pointed at the dress, her fingers shaking in anger./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""But Grandma!" Mitsuki pleaded as she followed the old lady down the hallway. "I won't look any different than when I am on stage!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her grandmother wasn't listening and was already dialing the phone number for Hazuki and Aoi. "Where is this party at?" She asked, her voice crackling in anger as the phone continued to ring./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""A club called Maggianos." She spoke softly, lowering her head as she prepared for the outburst of anger that she knew was about to come./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""A club?!" Her grandmother voice rose even higher, her body shaking in anger. "No little girl is going to go to a club dressed like some... some street girl!" She hung up the phone in frustration. Both of her parents were busy at work putting together the album, having entrusted Takuto to protect her at the party./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'll speak to my daughter about this!" She added as Mitsuki's eyes widened in shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Grandma, mom won't be back till past midnight! The party will be over by then!" She pleaded as her grandmother left the room for her study, her arms crossed as if the entire situation was finalized./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You can wait in your room until she gets home." Her grandmother added./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With tears streaming down her face, Mitsuki balled her hands in frustration. Everything was ruined, she wouldn't be able to confess to Takuto, worse yet he would be at the party, the party for her, with his ex girlfriend! "I HATE YOU!" She screamed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The music from the oversized speakers vibrated across the club, shaking the black walls, and causing glasses of liquor to tremble on the bar. Neon lights and various spot lights swung across the room, dancing across the floor and illuminating the tables. Most of the band had already arrived and cheers rang out with each entrance, the liquor had already been flowing for a hour and with the music now blaring out of the speakers the atmosphere had become filled with excitement./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Where is she." Takuto mumbled leaning against the bar, his eyes focused on his cell phone. Mitsuki hadn't called, and she hadn't shown up. So either something had happened at the house, or something had happened enroute to the party. Either way he would not even begin to relax before he saw her face enter the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""C'mon Takuto it's a party! You can't be a sour puss all night!" Hikari grabbed his arms, the smell of alcohol already on her breath. He guessed she had already had two glasses of champeign already by how quickly the staff was serving it. "Lets go dancing and make the other boys jealous."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto pulled his arm away in frustration and dialed Mitsuki's house number, he had swore he would give her another five minutes but he knew that even in Hikari's drunken state she would know not to bother him while he was on the phone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm sorry sir, but the number you dialed seems to be experiencing problems." The operator came over the phone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's heart leapt into his throat, sweat began to bead on his forehead out of fear of what that could mean. He slammed the phone shut and was already half way out to the door when Hikari noticed he was leaving. "Takuto? The party is just getting started!" She tried to follow him out, nearly tripping numerous times on her way out./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"By the time she got outside, Takuto was already out of sight, having borrowed Kato's motorcycle and sped off toward Mitsuki's house./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The lights in Mitsuki's room flickered, once and then twice, and then went out entirely plunging her room into darkness. Nearly tripping over her chair she made her way to the door and opened it. Somewhere on the other side of the house she could hear the small sound of a window being broken. "Whats happening? The lights went out?" She called out./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki? Mitsuki are you okay?" She could hear her grandmother's voice as she raced down the hallway, having already heard the broken window. br /br /Seeing the outline of her shape in the darkness, Mitsuki ran toward her, hugging her in fright. "What's happening? Everything suddenly went dark."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She grasped Mitsuki's hand and began to hurry her through the pitch black hallways of the house toward Aoi's room. When they had first built the house, Aoi had insisted on a fake wall for the closet that could be bent back and so that a child or young adult could be hidden away in case of a emergency. "Grandma where are you taking me?" Mitsuki asked, her voice filled with fear and panic as Fuzuki threw open the door to the master bedroom./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki, you must keep quiet, no matter what happens, keep quiet." Fuzuki whispered, opening the door to Aoi's closet and began to feel around. After a moment the wall slid aside revealing for the tiny space hidden behind it. "Stay in here until I come for you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki put one step in before pausing, realizing the size of the space she began to push back. "It's too small for both of us, it's too small for both of us!" She shook her head, tears running down her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'll be fine." Fuzuki tried to calm her, in the distance both of them could hear glasses and tables being overturn, whoever was in the house they were searching for someone, or something. "Just stay quiet until I come for you." She repeated before guiding Mitsuki into the hiding space and forcing the door shut before she could object./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Not even bothering to come to a full stop, Takuto leapt from the motorcycle, causing it to go spinning out of control and fall onto it's side with a loud thud. With the helmet still on he rammed his shoulder into the front door splintering it as it cracked and fell against his weight. He could have fumbled around for his keys, but at this moment all he could think of was Mitsuki's safety./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For a moment he thought it could have just been a simple blown fuse, but his second step in brought the distinctive crack of his foot stepping onto the remains of the broken vase. Immediately his training kicked in and Takuto dropped into a crouch, he slid his helmet off and began to scan the surroundings. Even with the darkness limiting his vision he could begin to make out the broken remains of various objects that littered the floor./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His first objective was to reach Mitsuki's room, if she wasn't there he would check Aoi's room and then begin to work his way through the house, he couldn't risk making a phone call as any sound could alert whoever was still in the house. His eyes trailed back to the broken door as he realized the noise would have carried throughout the house. "Great." He muttered before returning to his focus to making his way to Mitsuki's room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It seemed like a eternity, but he finally made his way to Mitsuki's room. Inside he found the room trashed, the mattress ripped, her mirror and desk over turned and broken, but most important of all he couldn't find Mitsuki in the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto stepped back out into the hallway, trying to remember if Aoi had briefed Mitsuki about the panic room. If she wasn't in there he would have to risk alerting whoever else was in the house by calling the police./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With one hand on the wall to guide him, Takuto began to make his way down the hallway toward Aoi's room. Nearly half way toward his goal, his foot hit something warm and soft. For a moment his blood froze in his veins. Mitsuki couldn't be dead, she couldn't be dead./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He reached down and touched the body, the skin was cold and soaked in blood. Instantly he knew from the feel of the face, that the person had been beaten to death, and that it wasn't Mitsuki. For a moment he was filled with relief, until he realized who's body it was. "I'm sorry." He whispered./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Rising from the body, he made sure to step over it before continuing down the hallway and into Aoi's room, just like Mitsuki's room it was trashed, not a single object left in place. Who ever had been in the room they had made sure to check every single object for what they were looking for./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For what had to be the fifth time of the night Takuto held his breath in fear, as he reached into Aoi's closet and unlatched the fake wall. As it slid away he could hear the soft sound of Mitsuki sobbing. "Ta-Takuto." She sobbed, he didn't know or care how she knew it was him, he was just glad she was safe./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I was quiet, I didn't say a word, no matter what happened I did.." Her voice caught in her throat as she was reduced to sobs. Takuto scooped the little girl up into his arms and held her close as he realized that she had heard the entire thing, she had remained in that tiny hole and listened to her grandmother die./p 


	22. The Rabbit In The Sky

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Two/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"The Rabbit In The Sky/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The gentle sound of the ceiling fan was the only noise that seemed to break up the tension in the office. In the distance the sound of the talking heads on the radio could be heard, most likely discussing the shocking news that Eternal Snow had been pushed back for a month due to the sudden and violent death of Full Moon's grandmother during a evening robbery./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A hollow pit had formed in Madoka's stomach ever since the night of the robbery, she didn't want to think that she had been part of a murder. The music industry was a cut throat game where you did everything to survive, but not murder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takasu glanced up from the sheet music, having read it through for the fifth time. "Because Eternal Snow was pushed back, we have a opening for the single." He paused for a moment, adjusting his glasses. "If I find out that you were involved in any way with the break in, you will be finished, done with music, done with entertainment."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka froze in her chair, his icy gaze seemed to look right through her. "I understand." She finally spoke, finding the courage to finally speak./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His gaze lingered on her for a second more before tossing the sheet music back across his desk. "Send this to the band, we will start production this afternoon."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki sat on the back porch of her house, just two months ago all of them had gathered here to share stories and enjoy the cool night air after having a party for her first steps into the music industry. Just two months ago her grandmother had been alive, and her last words to her hadn't been 'I hate you'./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her hands gripped the formal black dress that she had worn to the funeral just several hours before hand, her eyes rimmed with black circles from a lack of sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she could hear her grandmother's screams of agony, she was reliving the moment over and over again, the need to yell out 'stop it' but finding her lips dry and her tongue frozen in fear./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She had been a coward, and her grandmother died because of it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A shadow passed over her, too small to be a cloud and jolted her out of the constant turmoil of the memories of that fateful night. Her exhausted eyes slowly rose to gaze up into the sky, only to find a person softly flying across the sky. The woman's long flowing hair was a inhuman shade of pink, that almost matched her one piece dress, and bunny ears that stuck out of her hair./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko glided across the winds, humming to herself as she made her trip back to Izumi, their target was back home and out of harm's way for the day meaning she was free to spend the evening with her one and only love. The feeling of being watched was sudden and unnerving, a quick tingle racing up her spine to alert her of prying eyes that may have spotted her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her eyes shifted back and forth as her body twisted and turned in the air. She finally spotted the source of the feeling, down below a young girl, no older than twelve was looking directly at her. Every instinct told her to run off and tell Izumi, but she couldn't help but glide down and see if the girl was truly looking at her, or just in her direction./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Can you see me?" She asked curiously, gliding down to the young girl./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki paused for a second, taking in the sight of the flying bunny eared woman before giving a soft nod./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko froze in shock, what should she do? Tell Izumi about this? He might suggest something drastic or worse yet tell the boss! But then she couldn't just keep this a secret, humans were not supposed to see Shinigami and from everything she had heard there had never been a case before of a human that saw a Shinigami./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Are you a angel?" Mitsuki asked, her voice was dry and weak from lack of sleep, her words slow to come out as she tried to take in what she was seeing, was she dreaming right now? Or did a flying woman actually just suddenly appear right in front of her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter. Her? A angel? She could understand how her appearance could cause a human to think she was a angel, with her fluffy white wings, yet the question seemed funny but was also a complement at the same time. "No, I'm..." She paused, realizing that she could not recite the team motto without Izumi. "I'm Meroko, a Shinigami."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The girl didn't react to the news, instead her hollow empty eyes just seemed to lower down to her hands. She had heard that humans who experienced traumatic events, such as news of their death or the death of a loved one would become withdrawn and depressed, and in a few cases before she had seen this happen. She had to wonder if this is what happened to this little girl./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her eyes began to wonder, gazing into the house she could see various other humans walking around wearing formal attire, the atmosphere was thick with grief and pain that ran a icy chill down her spine. The girl had just lost some one, someone close to her, and now the family was in the grieving process, but that still did not explain how she could see her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Angels are much more beautiful." She returned to the girl's question as she sat down on the porch next to her, allowing her tired wings to take a rest as she gazed up at the dying sunlight, just peeking over the horizon. "They are radiant with a glow that seems to warm you and hold you, they are always relaxed and happy even when they watch over you, when you are with them you feel as if everything will be alright."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She had only met a angel once, it was rare for a Shinigami to meet one seeing how being a Shinigami was a punishment that they must live out for the wrongs of their past life. "Being a angel, it's beyond imagination, certainly much better than being a Shinigami."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki gripped the dress, if her eyes could they would be rimmed with tears right now. "Do you thing my grandmother is a angel... or a shinigami?" She asked Meroko./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For the second time in as many minutes, Meroko was caught off guard, she couldn't just tell a little girl that her dead grandmother would be spending a eternity reaping souls, and that she had forgotten everything about her past life, including her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Oh she is probably a angel by now, looking down at you and saying 'don't worry about me'" Meroko laughed hoping to defuse the tension of the situation before slowly glancing at the depressed girl who's face seemed to be shrouded in shadow and her hair. "So please don't cry okay?" She added./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki looked up at her, a warm smile on her face. "Thank you Meroko."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko let out a long sigh of relief, the last thing she needed to deal with was a child's tears. "Well I have places to be, reports to file." She got up, her wings outstretched as she prepared to take flight. Her feet were not even a inch off the ground when she felt the little girl's hand tugging at her dress./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Will you come back?" Mitsuki asked, gazing up at her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko paused, trying to think up a excuse. "Well you see I have mountains of paper work I have to deal with, and then there is Izumi, who I..." Her voice trailed off as she looked down into Mitsuki's eyes, even beyond the smiling face she could tell the girl was in pain, beyond the normal loss, something more was affecting her. "I'll meet you here tomorrow at the same time." She reassured her with a smile./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt what are you doing out here?" Takuto asked pulling the sliding door open. He had spent the last few hours on the phone arguing with everyone he could at the police station to allow him to help and track down Fuzuki's killer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He had been spending the last few nights trying his best to help Mitsuki go to sleep, with Aoi busy trying to take care of Hazuki, he was Mitsuki's only source of comfort and as such he had resorted to even sleeping on her hard floor each night to try and help her fall asleep. Now he had caught her sitting outside alone, her hand grasping the air as if she was trying to pull a invisible object down to her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hearing Takuto's voice Mitsuki quickly let go of Meroko's dress, allowing the Shinigami to fly off. "Oh Takuto, I was just.." She paused and glanced back in Meroko's direction who quickly shook her head, as if to tell Mitsuki not to say a word."I was just watching the sun set."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He let out a long sigh and softly took her by the small of her back, helping her back up to her feet. "C'mon I ordered out and bought a movie we could watch." He offered, guiding her back into the house. He would do anything, even chop off his own arm to make Mitsuki's pain go away, but tonight he could only settle for a old movie and pizza, and hope that with time her pain would ease./p 


	23. I Must Move On

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Three/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"I Must Move On/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The house had grown quiet in the days following the funeral, the smell of food still filled the house, and occasionally there was the concerned friend that would stop by, but past that everyone remained in their rooms, too tired or heartbroken to venture out for anything more than a usual meal. Even Takuto had given up and decided to let the family grieve as he made multiple trips to the police station each day for any word on the killer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki ran the comb through her hair, for what had to be the hundredth time, it was a calming motion, something for her body to do as she reflected on that horrible night. Through the mirror reflection she could see the first leaves begin to turn brown and fall, signaling the change to autumn was just beginning. Yet her mind was still focused on one thing, how could she have saved her grandmother. She replayed the night over and over in her head, how could she have acted differently, what could she had done. In the end no answers came, and she was left to ponder a question that seemingly had no answer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki!" Meroko pushed her head through the mirror, right where Mitsuki's reflection had been./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki tumbled backwards and let out a scream of terror and shock. Over the past few days the two had become close friends, whenever Meroko wasn't on a mission or spending time with Izumi, she would come over and talk to Mitsuki about the day's events. "M-Meroko! You shouldn't scare people like that!" Mitsuki righted herself, a slight blush on her face in embarrassment from being caught off guard by Meroko./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko paused for a second, realizing that humans could possibly be caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a Shinigami. "Listen! I pulled some strings in the Shinigami world, but I finally know who killed your grandmother!" She moved on, her words coming out so fast she nearly stumbled over them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""EH?! YOU DO?!" Mitsuki cried out./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto thrust his hands into his jacket pockets, even though it was still technically summer, a stiff wind was driving through the city and he along with many others figured that it was finally time to pull the jackets out of the closet, even if it was just for today. "So what was so urgent squirt?" He asked, coming upon Mitsuki waiting for him just down the street from her house./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She glanced back up at Meroko, unsure of what to say, she knew that no one else even Takuto couldn't see Meroko, and that if she went to the police and told them a invisible friend told her where her grandmother's killer was that she would have been laughed out of the police station./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I just thought we could go for a walk!" She said cheerfully. It wasn't a total lie, they were going for a walk, it was just in the direction that Meroko's little beeping device told them to go./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A warm smile came to Takuto's face, he figured that this was at least the first steps to Mitsuki's recovery. And once they were beyond the line of sight of her house, he extend a hand, and intertwined their fingers together, the two finally walking like a couple again./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""He's so handsome!" Meroko cooed, flying around them so that she could observe Takuto from different angles. "Is he your boyfriend?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's face reddened and she clinched Takuto's hand even tighter. She had never heard anyone refer to him as her boyfriend before. Mitsuki responded with a short nod as Takuto shot her a questioning look./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""This way! Turn this way!" Meroko quickly checked her handheld map, the direction pointing toward a small field filled with overgrown weeds and throns. "He's just beyond that field." She explained as Mitsuki eyed the thorny plants that seemed to litter the ground. If she had known they were going beyond the side walk she never would have worn her skirt./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto, I want to go this way." She pointed in the direction of the field./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He glanced down at the weeds and thorns before turning back to her. "Are you crazy? Your legs will get ripped to shreds."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She clung to his hand a bit harder and gazed up at him, trying to convey how much she needed to do this. "Please Takuto!" She asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A blush crept across his face as his resistance slipped away. "Fine, but you can't walk through it wearing that." In one quick motion he scooped her up, placing one arm securely across her back, and another across her bare legs. "If you were to get some kind of rash or infection your father would kill me." He grumbled./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""How romantic." Meroko giggled, following the couple across the field. "He must really love you, have you two kissed yet?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's face quickly turned several shades of red as she played with Takuto's jacket with her fingers. She gave a quick and embarrassed nod causing Meroko to giggle even more. "You're lucky to have such a sweet and handsome boy, if I didn't have Izumi I might even try to steal him away."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki clung to his jacket even tighter, she couldn't imagine her life without Takuto now, and with that her greatest fear was that Takuto would be stolen away. "Down you go squirt." Takuto sighed, his arms becoming slightly strained from holding her. He gently lowered her to the ground and allowed Mitsuki to get back onto her feet before he gazed around at where she had led them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You wanted to go to a fish market?" He asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The smell was unmistakable, the mixture of raw fish, sea water, and the slight smell of decaying fish made for a noxious scent that burned the nose and turned the stomach. "Well umm..." Mitsuki tried to think up a lie that would fit the situation. "I wanted to get a fish for dinner!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto eyed her suspiciously causing her to feel as if she were shrinking under his gaze. "That's him!" Meroko announced, pointing toward a man in his mid thirties, his long thick greasy hair trickled down over his ears, and hid one eye. He wore a leather jacket that looked far more expensive than anything else at the market, and seemed to be waiting for someone than actually picking out a fish./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki froze in place, her eyes locked on the man, somewhere deep in her soul she knew that was him. She hadn't seen him that night but she had felt him, and felt every bone crushing blow he gave to her grandmother. Just the sight of him turned the knot in her stomach, and filled her veins with fear and terror./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's him." She whispered under her breath as if in a daze./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto didn't even have to ask, the tears in her eyes, and the sudden trembling told him everything. It was the man that had terrorized her and her grandmother just a few days ago. He had spotted the unusual man since the moment they got there, his instincts trained to look for the unusual and a man wearing a jacket like that would have ordered for his food to be delivered to him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Stay back." He warned her, his hand placed on Mitsuki's side as if to hold her back as he pushed off into a sprint./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Out of the corner of his eye Hiroshi caught sight of Takuto charging through the marketplace toward him, slipping gracefully between patrons, and side stepping carts. His moves and actions were too graceful for just a ordinary citizen, and the anger on his face led him to believe two possibilities either a cop, or someone out for vengeance, neither was good for him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In one single motion he swung his leg around, pivoting on his right foot he used his left to kick a innocent woman off balance, causing her to fall into Takuto's path. He continued the spin until he was facing the opposite direction and took off into a dead run, his hands grabbing anything that he could get a hold of, cartons of fish, dresses, men's arms, anything that he could throw to the ground to break Takuto's sprint./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto leapt over the fallen woman, and side stepped the open box of fish, but as Hiroshi ran the path became more and more cluttered, filled with surprised onlookers, angry patrons, and random items that Hiroshi had gotten ahold of to slow Takuto down./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Knowing that Fuzuki's killer was getting away, he decided on one last desperate act to catch up. Leaping onto the counter of one of the fish stands, he grasped the wooden roof and pulled himself up. Not even wanting to guess if it would hold his weight, he eyed the jump to the next roof and leapt. His momentum carrying him into a quick jump to the next roof, and then the next. Within seconds he was catching up to Hiroshi, and on the final jump he twisted his body, bounced off the roof and landed on his back, taking them both to the ground./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You killed Fuzuki Kouyama!" Takuto growled as Hiroshi threw his head back, hitting Takuto's nose with a painful blow to knock him off./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Rubbing his head Hiroshi pulled himself up off the ground, he stumbled for a moment before finally regaining his balance, his hand went for his jacket pocket, trying to pull out the switch blade he kept handy for emergency. "People get in the way during jobs, you will have to be a bit more specific than that."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's clutched his fists in anger, and the moment the man pulled out the knife, he swiftly kicked it away and grabbed the man by the jacket, pushing him up against the railing that separated them from the ocean several meters down below. "How could you be so caviler about a innocent life! That is unforgiveable!" His fists tightened on the man's jacket./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto!" Mitsuki cried out, diverting his attention back toward her as she struggled to make her way through the crowd and catch up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"That was just the opening Hiroshi needed, he knocked Takuto's arms away and brought his knee up for a swift hit in the gut. Reacting on instinct Takuto swung his fists around, hitting him twice in the jaw before he had even turned back to look. Hiroshi's head flew backwards as his body tumbled over the railing, his hand catching the last bar in a sickening pop of a dislocated shoulder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No!" Mitsuki rushed past Takuto, grabbing on to Hiroshi's arm to keep him from slipping into the watery abyss far below. "Takuto help me!" She tugged on the arm with all her might./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Letting out a sigh of frustration, he knelt down beside her and took Hiroshi's other arm, ever so slowly the two pulled him up and back into safety. The moment his feat had settled onto the ground Takuto delivered a stinging punch to his face, knocking the man out cold and allowing his body to slip to the ground. "I'll call the cops." Takuto shook the stinging pain out of his fist before pulling out his cell phone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I realized that I didn't want him to die, and that Grandma wouldn't want him to die either." Mitsuki spoke up, before Meroko could even ask. "And that Grandma wouldn't want me to stay depressed about her death." She looked up at her with a smile./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko wiped a tear from her eye, doing her best to keep from crying she wrapped her arms around her friend and embraced her with a deep hug./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hiroshi awoke to a throbbing headache, infact all of his body ached, his arm was in a sling and his jaw felt as if it had been pummeled with a hammer. He expected to be dead, having drowned in the ocean, instead he was sitting on a rock hard mattress, inside of a small concrete cell, the windows barred up and the door at the other end of the room most likely locked. "Stupid child." He shook his head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He expected some one seeking revenge to allow him to fall, not to save him and turn him over to the police. "She's stupid for saving your life?" A soft voice asked from across the room. He hadn't even noticed the man standing in the corner of the room, wearing a yellow shirt, black vest and black pants, with a weird black hat. "Is that how you view her act?" He narrowed his yellow eyes in a gaze of disgust./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""If you are here to question me, then you should know that I won't say a word without my lawyer here." He replied with a wiry grin, he had one of the best lawyers money could buy, and with out any evidence tying him to the crime he would be out in a matter of hours./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I'm not here to question you." The man shook his head, stepping forward as he pulled out a bow he had kept hidden behind his back. "I am here to kill you." He said bluntly, and then pulled back the string on the bow./p


	24. Our First Date

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Four/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Our First Date/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The gentle song of birds began to fill the early morning air, a soft cold layer of dew settled across the apartment roof as the first rays of dawn began to break over the horizon. Takuto began to stur from his slumber, his shirt soaking wet from the evening dew. In his arm was Hikari sleeping soundly. He gave his eyes a rub and stretched his arms, working out the sleepy muscles before nudging her awake./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto?" She asked raising her sleepy head as he gazed back at the dawn rays as they began to chase the stars away./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You wanted to see the sun rise right?" He asked, his face bathed in a beautiful golden glow. Even as annoying as Hikari could be, he had to admit that staying up and talking the night away on the roof of their old apartment had been one of the most relaxing experiences he ever had, it was like old times when they were still a young couple striking out for the very first /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He allowed his gaze to linger on the gorgeous sun rise for a moment longer before returning to reality and checking his cell phone's voice mail. Much to his surprise he already had three messages waiting for him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto, Hazuki and I have to head to South Korea for a possible record deal, I'm trying to get her out of the house and her mind off of Fuzuki's death, can you take care of Mitsuki while we're gone? She has a appointment at the Salon, Hazuki promised to take her but she's not really in the best emotional state now." Aoi rambled off as Takuto let out a long sigh, he didn't mind taking care of Mitsuki, he loved it, but sometimes her parents could be so bone headed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Something wrong?" Hikari asked, her hand running up Takuto's chest./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He shook her head and gave her his best reassuring smile. "Just remembered I had a appointment at the salon." He said a bit absentmindedly before heading back down to the street below, leaving Hikari to stand around dumbfounded at what he meant./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Being a Saturday the morning traffic turned out to be far lighter than Takuto expected. Mitsuki remained passed out in the back part of the limo as Takuto did his best to avoid anything that would jolt the poor girl awake. Every few minutes he would get the urge to try to wake her, to tell her to check out the scenery, but as they passed office building after office building he had to admit there wasn't really anything to look at./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The GPS chimed, telling him that the next turn would lead him into the parking lot next to the Salon, and Takuto began to roll down the seperation window between the front cab and the back half of the limo. "Time to wake up squirt, we're here." He called out as his eyes lit up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Not just three stores down from the salon, was the beautiful neon lights of a Japanese Arcade. When he was with Route L he spent untold amount of hours playing video games and crane games, wasting countless handfuls of yen on every gaming machine in site. The thought that he would be able to waste the hours away that Mitsuki was in the salon, at the gaming heaven that was a arcade filled him with a child like enthusiasm./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"By the time he was out of the car, and opening her door, Mitsuki was just beginning to come around, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and tried to block out the harsh glare of the morning day light. "I know it's early." He spoke in as best of a sympathetic tone he could muster. "But I promise to take you some where special tonight." He offered./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"This was enough to get Mitsuki's attention. She rose her head up, her eyes widening. "Really?!" She asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto gave her a nod, and took her hand easing her out of the car. "Enjoy, doing whatever girls do in there." He laughed, letting go of her hand at the side walk as he turned to head off toward the arcade./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He wasn't more than five steps away from her, before he felt something was amiss. He looked back over his shoulder to find her standing infront of the door to the salon, looking unsure as to what to do. He gave one last look at the arcade before turning back and touching her shoulder. "Why don't I take Hazuki's appointment, I need a haircut anyway." He offered with a smile./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The salon was thick with the smell of perfume and hairspray, in the distance he could spy women with their heads in weird machines, while others got a disgusting green cream smeared on their face. "Oh Mitsuki! Its good to see you, oh and who is this handsome young man you brought along?" The receptionist asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki glanced up at Takuto, fidgeting a bit as she tried to think of what to say. "I'm her body guard, Takuto Kira." He introduced himself, figuring that boyfriend would have aroused more than enough suspicion, yet if Mitsuki was as much of a chatter box as the girls in the next room while at the salon, he wondered if everyone knew about his relationship with her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I take it he plans to use Hazuki's appointment?" The woman eyed him curiously as if making a mental checklist. "He has hair is uneven, his skin is oily and needs a good message, and his nails look just horrid." She shook her head before stepping behind the counter and taking his hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""No, I just...I was just." Takuto began to object as he was led into the main room, suddenly it felt as if every eye was on him, as if the women were suddenly eyeing this suspicious male intruder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Relax Takuto!" Mitsuki chimed in, as he was placed in a cushoned barber chair while Mitsuki sat down in the one next to him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He began to remind her that he wasn't supposed to be the one going to the salon, only to have his attention diverted to the large cloth cape that draped around his body to catch any falling hair. Behind him he could feel the hair stylist began to undo his ponytail. "Hey I really don't need that much done!" He objected, only for a cold spray of water to hit his hair, sending shivers up his spine./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Before he could open his mouth again another woman grabbed his hand, she let out a small 'tsk tsk' under her breath as she brought up a file to his finger nails. "I really don't need my nails done!" He struggled to pull his hand away from the woman's icy grip./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki could only giggle as she closed her eyes and relaxed in the chair. Meanwhile Takuto's eyes grew wide in shock at the sight of the third woman coming over, a jar of the disgusting green cream on her hands. "Don't you dare put that on my face!" He squirmed, as he closed his eyes and struggled to turn his head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A hour later Takuto was under one of the hair dryers that looked closer than a alien space craft than any hair dryer that he had ever seen before. He could still smell and taste the cream that had been messaged onto his face."This is beyond humiliating." He grumbled under the steady hum of the hairdryer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I think you look handsome!" Mitsuki offered sitting under a similar hairdryer next to him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He couldn't help but blush as one of the stylists pulled the hairdryer off his hair and gave him back the hair band to fix his ponytail. By the time Mitsuki was out from under the hairdryer and fixing her pigtails, Takuto had finished paying and was waiting for her at the door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Did you like it?!" She asked, her eyes filled with hope that he would have enjoyed it as much as she did./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Biting down the urge to make a sarcastic remark Takuto faked a smile and patted her on the head. "I do feel pretty refreshed, Squirt."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Their next stop took Takuto by surprise, as it was Mitsuki to suggest that they spend some time at the arcade. Sensing that she was trying to make up for the hours or so they spent at the salon, Takuto agreed and took Mitsuki around, playing fighting video games with her, as well as teaching her how to play the crane game./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"By six that evening they were back on the road again, both of them sipping soft drinks from the fast food restaurant they dined at, with Mitsuki clutching a small unicorn plushie she had won on the crane game. Instead of heading back to the house, Takuto took a hard left just four streets away from Mitsuki's house and began to head in the opposite direction./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eh? Takuto where are we going?" Mitsuki asked as Takuto pulled into the parking lot of his old apartment building./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's a surprise." He replied, as he opened the door for her and took her hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Making sure she didn't trip on any of the rickety old steps of the apartment building, he lead her up to the roof, where the two chairs remained from the previous night he spent up there with Hikari. "Isn't this your apartment building?" She asked as Takuto lead her to the chairs and sat her down./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Before I moved in, I would come up here with Hikari at the end of a date." He explained./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It took Mitsuki a second before a subtle blush creped across her face. "Does this mean today was a date?" She finally asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto turned his attention to the setting sun, the light sparkling off the sky scrapers of downtown Tokyo, creating a thousand glittering diamonds. For some reason, this sunset was even more beautiful than any other one he had seen./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He turned his attention to Mitsuki, the red's, yellow's, and golden browns of the setting sun filled her face with life as she remained fixated on the beautiful sight. "Mitsuki?" He asked, he had no idea what he was going to say, he just knew he had to say it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I love you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki froze for a moment, her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. "Me too Takuto." She replied, only to realize she might of said something wrong. "I-I don't mean I love myself, I just..." She looked down at her hands as if to gain strength to finally said the words she longed to say. "I mean to say I love you too Takuto."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hikari remained frozen at the top of the steps, she had spotted the limo from her apartment, curiocity had gnawed at her, and finally overtaken her as she followed them upstairs, while remaining hidden at the base of the stairs. Now she couldn't believe her ears, the words she had heard couldn't be spoken by Takuto. He couldn't love this child, because if he did, if he did love her, after all she had done for him over the past few years./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She would make him pay./p 


	25. Please Forgive Me

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Five/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Please Forgive Me/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For the second week in a row, Madoka awoke in a cold sweat, her heart pounding and her sheets as well as her night gown soaking wet. The dreams had been the same each time, she would watch in horror as Full Moon's grandmother was brutally murdered. She would scream and claw on the glass walls that surrounded her, but the brutal beating would happen each and every time./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She rose up and was hit by a wave a nausea, her stomach having twisted itself into knots during the nightmare. Refusing to throw up tonight, she pulled herself back down onto the soaked pillow and took in deep breaths. She had done everything to get ahead, she had altered her body, she had paid off rivals, now she had been reduced to theft and murder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The very thought of what she had done, what she had been a party to had thrown her into sobbing fits for the past few nights. She gave the digital alarm clock on her night scan a small glance before turning away. There was still a few hours to go before she needed to be at the music store at the mall for the debut of her newest single./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For a moment she was tempted to go back to sleep, but the dream would be there, the anguish screams would be there, the sound of fists slamming into raw and broken flesh would be there. The very thought of being inside of that nightmare again was enough to send a fresh wave of nausea over her. "No, no sleep for me tonight." She mumbled and clung to her pillow./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The atmosphere seemed to crackle with electricity as those waiting for Madoka's next single gathered around the stage outside of the music store. The background music from her first single blared from the speakers, and the crowd seemed to become more and more energized with every moment that passed. For Madoka she could only wonder if the rest of the crowd could see the deep black circles that ringed her eyes from lack of sleep and exhaustion. Even with a one hour make up job she still was not completely satisfied that it was hidden./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The warm up speaker was already at the microphone, listing off her previous accomplishments and getting the crowd even more pumped up and ready for her to step forward and talk about the song that she had created from stolen material. "Please let this end." Madoka whispered through her fake smile. She hoped that once the single was released and she began to work on her next project that the nightmares would slowly fade./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""And here is Madoka!" The master of ceremonies announced, causing the crowd to roar at a even higher noise level than before, which only increased her headache from exhaustion./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Having trained herself not to wince, Madoka waved to the crowd and stepped up to the microphone, her eyes scanning the crowd. She opened her mouth to speak only to find her voice caught in her throat. In the far back of the crowd, almost completely out of sight stood the familiar pigtails of Full Moon, and her loyal guard dog standing next to her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka's blood froze in her veins, how could she introduce a album in front of the very girl who she had stolen material from, and killed her relative. "I'm sorry I can...I can't do this right now." She tore away from the microphone, tears glistening down her face as she rushed off stage./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The crowd seemed to gasp and murmur, everyone trying to figure out what had just happened. The master of ceremonies quickly returned to the microphone, trying to explain Madoka's sudden departure but no one was listening. Mitsuki's eyes followed the path Madoka had taken while Takuto crossed his arms and shook his head. "Some people just do not belong in the music business." He mumbled as Mitsuki took off after Madoka./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt wait!" He shouted after her as he rushed to catch up with her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka pushed aside the double doors which led to the deeper catacombs of the mall, her frantic pace slowing to a stop as she rested her body against the wall. How could she go out there and face Full Moon, how could she try to pass off a song that was paid for in blood./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Her hands became clinched in anger at the very thought of what she had done. She wanted to be the best, she always had, she had done anything to get to the top and just as soon as she got there she had been dethroned by this young child. She knew she could never match Full Moon in talent, deep down she had known that all along, and so she had resorted to some of her most underhanded tactics yet to get a edge on her before Eternal Snow came out./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Madoka?" Mitsuki called out, pushing aside the double doors and stepping in ever so slowly. "Are you okay?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka shook her head as she gazed down at her trembling hands, trying to find the urge to speak. "I'm a fraud." She finally spoke up, the words coming from deep inside of her and had left her mouth before she even realized she had spoken them. "I wanted to win so badly that I did something horrible."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki waited a moment before stepping forward. "Is that why you ran away? If you just tell the truth.."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki was cut off from a throaty and condescending laugh from Madoka. "This is the music industry, where artists prey on the weak and do everything they can to survive." She looked back at Mitsuki with a harsh glare which quickly softened. "I wish I could be like you, innocent and naive, and so full of potential."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki blushed in embarrassment, not sure how to respond to what seemed like a complement and a back handed slap./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's not the crowd I need to tell the truth to, its you." Madoka closed her eyes as she pushed herself to explain. "I was the one who hired Hiroshi to break into your house, I didn't want anyone to get hurt, I just wanted the lyrics to Eternal Snow!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka expected the girl to turn and run, to rush out of the building and scream for the police. She knew she had just ended her career, that Full Moon would use this revelation to put a end to her, and she would be completely justified in doing so. Instead she just stood there and smiled at Madoka. "If you wanted the lyrics you could have just asked me!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Madoka's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. Could this girl be so naive that she would have willingly given over her music and lyrics just by someone asking. A wave of pity began to wash over her as she realized how far Full Moon needed to go, how innocent she was, and how the music industry would eat her alive before spitting her out a broken woman./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I know you didn't mean to hurt me or my grandmother, you couldn't have known what would happen." She offered a hand to Madoka, a smile full of youth and innocence filling her face. "So please, continue to make music, I really like your songs."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You, like my songs?" Madoka stammered in disbelief as her bodyguard walked through the double doors to retrieve Full Moon./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She took Full Moon's hand and for a moment realized that she could make amends for her sins, she could help protect her from the industry that had turned her into such a horrible woman, she could protect Full Moon's innocence that seemed to beam brighter than the brightest star. "Maybe, one day we could do a duet together." She suggested, patting Full Moon on the head./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki smiled and nodded before taking Takuto's hand and turned to head back out into the mall. The two were only five steps outside of the catacombs when a man dressed in a old wrinkled up sports coat and a even dirtier shirt stepped up to them, a cigarette hung from his mouth and he looked as if he hadn't showered and shaved in several days./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Full Moon is it?" He asked, blocking Mitsuki and Takuto's path. "Daily Tattler, is it true that you have a boyfriend?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Recognizing the man was from one of those sleeze ball entertainment magazines, Takuto used his arm to shove him aside and continue on. "We don't have time for this." He growled as he passed by the reporter./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Then is the rumor true that you are sleeping with the same boyfriend?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto clinched his fist and turned to punch the man square in the jaw, but was already beaten to it. Madoka held her brused hand as the reporter lay face first on the ground in his own drool, having been knocked out cold in one hit. "How dare you ask a little girl that." Madoka glared down at him before giving him a extra kick in the stomach for good measure./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Thanks..." Takuto looked on in amazement as she stepped over the man, making sure to step on his fingers in the process./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You two better hurry up and get out of here, where there is one.." Madoka began to warn./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yes I know, there are probably more." Takuto finished her sentence, remembering the same warning during his days in Route L. He knew it was inevitable, that the lies and rumors would eventually begin about Mitsuki, he just had no idea how to tell her that it was going to get alot worse before it got better./p 


	26. Thunder and Photographs

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Six/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Thunder and Photographs/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Somewhere in the distance lightning streaked across the sky, it zig zagged down toward Earth from a looming cloud that seemed to grow closer and closer every second. Thunder followed, rocking and rattling the Kouyama house, the winds followed battering against the windows as it tried to push into the home. A second later lightning illuminated the sky again, this time closer, with the thunder coming even quicker and louder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto had always hated thunderstorms in the middle of the night, he could remember waking up to the loud shaking and rattling of the apartment building he lived in with Aoi, and clinging to his pillow in fright at the terrifying flashes of light, and loud booms of thunder that seemed to come without warning. Now as a adult he would just lay in bed, his attention focusing on the ceiling fan, counting the seconds between the flash of lightning and the following boom of thunder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His mind most of the day had been preoccupied as to how he would tell Mitsuki that she would soon have to explain their relationship or else the rumor mills would gain even more traction. Now as he lay in bed, all he could think about was how spooky the large house seemed with Mitsuki's parents away in Korea, and the house keeper off for the night./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Another wave of wind buffered against the house, and some where deeper into the home he could have sworn he heard the terrifying sound of a creaking wood floor. He could easily rationalize these away, tell himself that there was not some psychotic murderer who had taken this opportunity to break into the house and murder everyone in a violent fashion./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Yet, he wondered if Mitsuki could do the same, if she could sleep in such a empty house, with her parents away, and a thunderstorm shaking the house every moment or two./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In his mind's eye he could imagine her curled up in her bed, clinging to the sheets as her body shook from fear, every noise, every bolt of thunder, sending a jolt of fear throughout her body./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The very thought that she could be experiencing the same fear that plagued his childhood was enough to get him out of bed. He quickly gathered and redressed in his discarded clothes from the previous day before heading out toward her room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The frequent bolts of lightning were enough to highlight his path through the maze that made up Aoi's house. By the time he had made it to Mitsuki's room he counted another five bolts of lightning, and that each rumble of thunder followed within three seconds, meaning the storm was getting closer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki?" He whispered, sliding her door open just a bit so that his voice would carry in her room. "Are you awake?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto?" Came a frighten voice, so shaken and scared that he wasn't sure it was Mitsuki's voice at first./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto opened the door, another flash of lightning illuminating the room, Mitsuki peeked out from underneath a tangle of blankets, clinging to the two teddy bears they had made together a month or two ago. The very sight was enough to melt Takuto's heart./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hey squirt, why don't you come stay in my room." He offered, opening the door as another bolt of lightning flashed across the room. He had expected Mitsuki to ask if it was okay, or to wonder if she should, instead she bolted from the bed and rushed past the door as if trying to beat the thunder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Slow down so you don't trip!" Takuto turned to follow her not even bothering to close the door. Doing his best to guide her with what little light the storm provided, he slowly made his way back to his room and tucked her into his bed. Now came the uncomfortable part of the night, laying down with his day clothes still on, he shifted around on top of the blankets and covers, his jeans digging into his back. He could never dream of hurting Mitsuki, but he was not going to sleep under the same blankets that she did, and he was not going to wear anything less than three layers of clothing, she deserved to be respected in that manner even if she was too innocent to know it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Better?" He asked as Mitsuki curled up again in the covers, her fingers digging into the teddy bears so roughly that he briefly wondered if she would rip the stuffing right out of them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki nodded, a small lie that was quickly revealed by a loud clap of lightning that sent a tremor through her tiny body./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto rolled his eyes in annoyance at the small lie, and pulled her close and placed Mitsuki's head on his chest. "Can you hear my heart beat?" He asked, placing his hand on her back. He could feel her nod again, as he focused on taking deep long breaths. "Focus on my heart beat, don't listen to anything else." He whispered into her ear./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Soon her trembling body began to relax, her short quick breaths turned to slow long ones, and after a few minutes Takuto was more than satisfied that she had fallen asleep. He turned his attention back to the ceiling, the lightning was coming in wild flashes now, as one flash faded another lit up the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The lightning was coming so fast and furious that he didn't even catch the three quick flashes that were so flawless that they had to come from a unnatural source. The next flash of lightning caught his eye, as along with the numerous trees and bushes who's shadows danced across the room from the light of the lightning, now the shadow of a human could be clearly seen against the wall across the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto bolted up, nearly knocking Mitsuki off the bed as he caught sight of the man, a camera hanging in his soaked hands. "Dammit." He swore and leapt from the bed, ripping open the window with enough strength that he wondered for a brief moment that he had damaged the hinges./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Springing through the open window, his feet hit the ground spraying mud and water everywhere. Rain pelted his body, stinging and scratching at his skin as it came rushing down upon him. Takuto had to wipe the rain from his eyes to catch sight of the photographer, who was already racing along the soggy ground toward the gate where his car waited./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto charged forward, his foot slipping in the mud causing his body to tip forward and receive a face full of mud and grass. "Takuto!" Mitsuki screamed out, already half way out of the broken window./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto rose up and wiped the mud from his eyes. "Stay back!" He called out, spitting mud and grass out of his mouth. He turned back and was able to catch sight of the photographer as he made his way to his car and sped off, camera in hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Dammit." He swore again, his fists pounding the wet mud in frustration. His eyes lingered on where the car had been just long enough to catch the sight of a hooded man standing on the other side of the street, looking directly in his direction. To his horror the man lifted his hood, revealing Yasuno's face still twisted and mangled from their fight several months back. He smiled at Takuto with his broken teeth before pulling his hood back up over his face and walked off./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Shaking both out of fear and the cold rain, Takuto returned to the house and stepped back through the window without giving a single thought to how soaked and dirty he was. "Mitsuki grab everything you can, we're leaving now." He spoke quietly as he tried to digest what had just happened. Not only did the tabloids have physical proof of their relationship, but Yasuno was now stalking them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eh? Why?" Mitsuki asked, having retrieved a towel and began to clean the mud off of Takuto's face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Just do it!" Takuto barked, his voice harsh and sharp, he had never spoken to Mitsuki like that before and instantly he filled guilty and filled with regret. "Mitsuki please, trust me on this." He calmed his voice and placed his soaked hands on her shoulders trying to convey how dangerous it was to stay there./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She didn't ask again and rushed off to gather up a handful of clothes and belongings, leaving Takuto alone to ponder where they should go./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"It wasn't the lightning or thunder but the pounding on her apartment door that awoke Hikari up, she had been asleep for hours when she was awoken by the sharp pounding on her door. When she finally stumbled from her bed to her door and opened it, she found something that made her question if she was still dreaming. Takuto stood in her doorframe, caked head to toe in mud, with young Mitsuki standing behind him clinging to a small travel bag. "We need a place to stay." Takuto explained/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hikari eyed Mitsuki for a second, unsure about having the little tramp in her house. Her eyes finally trailed back up to Takuto, and how pathetic he looked soaked to the bone and covered in mud. She stepped to the side and allowed both of them to step inside before shutting the door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki awoke to the sound of song birds, the horror and fear of the night before having disappeared as quickly as the thunderstorm had. The rays of the early morning sun streaked through the window, splashing down upon her face and the couch she had been curled up on. She rose up and stretched, taking stock of the small apartment room she now found herself in. Takuto was fast asleep in a chair near her, and the door leading to Hikari's bedroom remained closed meaning she was probably still asleep./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki stretched and stepped away from the couch, remaining in her damp clothes from the night before she tip toed her way to the kitchen and began to silently pull down dishes to prepare breakfast. Hikari had been nice enough to allow her and Takuto to stay at her place for the night, why they had to leave her home she really did not know, but that didn't matter now and the least she could do would be to make breakfast for them./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Having watched Tanaka cook breakfast multiple times, she felt confident that she could do it as well. She steamed and cooked the rice, and then began to cut the vegetables. With the food nearly finished she moved to the cabinet to get the glasses down, only to find them mere inches out of reach./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Little kids really shouldn't be cooking alone." Hikari chided her, reaching up and pulling the glasses down that had remained out of Mitsuki's reach. She glanced down at the prepared meal and shook her head. "Takuto doesn't like pickles, don't you know that?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki froze for a moment before she began to gently pick off the sliced pickles and tossed them into the sink. "There is probably alot of things you do not know about Takuto, I was his girlfriend for years so there were alot of things we shared with eachother." Hikari leaned against the counter and glanced over at Takuto to make sure he was still asleep./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""He likes big tall beautiful independent women, and hates to deal with whiny clinging girls, when we first started dating he would always talk about how his old girlfriend used to act like a child, and how he hated it." She continued, sowing the seeds into Mitsuki's mind that she hoped would end in their break up./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Something smells good.." Takuto groaned, slowly beginning to wake from his slumber, mud clinging to his hair./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hikari stepped past Mitsuki and gathered up the breakfast she had made. "Good morning!" She announced sweetly as she made her way over to him. "We made you breakfast!"/p 


	27. The Rabbit and the Cat

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Seven/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"The Rabbit and the Cat/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The mid town police station wasn't a place for those with weak lungs. Smoke encircled the air, coming from numerous cigarettes, it clung to everyone's clothes and seemed to make its presence known where ever you were in the building. After numerous complaints the Government had asked them to install a proper ventilation system which in turn ended up being just a few fans, which could never hope to combat the tidal wave of smoke that pushed through the station each day./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Even though the smoke stung his eyes, Takuto had to be there, he wanted to be there, he knew he had seen Yasuno again. All leads as to where he had been had dried up months ago after he escaped the house, and many at the station believed he had fled the country. Yet while just weeks ago he had been welcomed there with open arms to help in the investigation, now he was viewed with suspicion and mistrust./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""He was there, outside of Mitsuki's house, I am telling you he is still in the city." Takuto pressed, placing both of his hands on the table to try and drive home the point./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The detective looked up at him, adjusted his glasses and knocked off a bit of ash from his cigarette. "How can I put this properly, you are no longer part of this investigation." He coughed slightly and reached under his desk./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What?!" Takuto nearly yelled at the top of his lungs, he was Mitsuki's body guard how could he not be a part of the investigation?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The detective pulled out that morning's edition of 'The Daily Tattler' and laid it on the desk, the picture of himself and Mitsuki in bed was on the front page, his shirt edited out and replaced with some one else's bare chest. "That's not.." Takuto began, trying to come up with a answer./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""We have had enough of your help." The detective said bluntly, waving his cigarette to the door to gesturing for him to leave./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Already fuming Takuto returned to Hikari's apartment, he still needed to pick up Mitsuki and head back over to Aoi's house yet at the moment he wasn't even sure if that was safe. A deep and chilling wind blew across the steps of the apartment building, causing Takuto to hike his jacket up as he walked inside and knocked at Hikari's door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Coming!" Hikari replied, sounding overly cheery as she opened the door, a large smile running across her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I need to pick up Mitsuki." Takuto sighed, he had given up on trying to come up with ideas as to how to tell the cops that the picture was fake, now he just wanted to get back to the house and come up with a way to protect Mitsuki./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki? Oh she went out for a while." Hikari grinned playfully, her fingers rubbing the neckline of his shirt. "So we have some time to ourselves."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto stepped away from her hands, his face going pale as his heart nearly leapt into his throat. "Where did she go?!" He asked as his mind jumped into overdrive, trying to figure out where Mitsuki could be at the moment. Could she have gone home? Could Yasuno have kidnapped her already while she was out?/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hikari shrugged playfully as if it were all a game and began to walk further inside of the apartment. "I don't know what you see in that child, she didn't say where she wanted to go just that she wanted to be alone, so go play hero." She turned back toward the door expecting Takuto to come into the apartment with her, now that Mitsuki was off playing at some playground. Much to her dismay she found the doorway empty, Takuto having already left./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Even with the bitter wind, sweat clung to Takuto's head and face, already his shirt was drenched in it as he ran from one place to the next looking for her. He had tried the playground nearby, the football field across the street, he had gone to the supermarket and ran down the aisles. In his mind's eye he could see her being grabbed and dragged into a car, being gagged as she kicked and screamed. The very thought brought back old haunting memories, and made the scar from his bullet wound ache in pain./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Having lucked out at the supermarket, Takuto turned tail and headed straight for the limo back at Hikari's apartment. He would have to expand the search further and further out, and then if he had to call the cops who he knew distrusted him already. With that photo out he probably would be considered a suspect too./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As he passed in front of the apartment again, he paused just for a moment and turned his attention to the old run down warehouse that he had taken Mitsuki to several months back, his secret hiding spot when he was a child he had called it. Something in the back of his mind, a small little voice told him that maybe, just maybe she had gone there as well./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His pace slowed as he reached the large metal doors of the building, inside he could hear a small voice talking, at first he couldn't make out the voice or the words clearly, but once he had cracked open the door he not only could tell it was Mitsuki, but that she was also talking to some one else in the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I don't know Meroko." Mitsuki sighed, swaying back and forth on the tire swing, her legs kicking in the air. "What if it's true, that Takuto does like beautiful women, he may just be dating me right now because dad is paying him to be around me."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""What?!" Meroko replied in shock, having perched herself on some old metal shelves that had been left in the building for decades. "How could he not like you! You are beautiful and sweet, and much better than that Hikari girl!" She stuck her tongue out in the direction of Hikari's apartment. "If I knew Izumi wouldn't get mad I would go over there right now and..."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Meroko it's alright!" Mitsuki interjected, she loved that her friend cared so much for her, but she didn't want Hikari to get hurt. "I just feel like he will leave me one day that's all.." Her voice fail to a whisper as she gazed down at her hands./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko flew down and wrapped her hands around the girl, Mitsuki tried her best not to cry, but as she gripped her skirt she couldn't help let a few tears run down her cheek. All of the pain and pressure of the last few days, all the pent up emotion, just overflowed. "And I don't know if my parents even remember my birthday is tomorrow." She sobbed, the very thought had been eating her up for days, as it got closer and closer to her thirteenth birthday and her parents still hadn't shown up yet./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto pressed further against the door to hear all she was saying, it creaked and groaned from the extra weight before sliding all the way to the side, causing him to stumble forward. Mitsuki nearly fell out of her tire swing in shock as she turned her attention to Takuto. "So who are you talking to in here?" Takuto asked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, having been caught red handed ease dropping./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Oh, I'm just talking to Meroko." Mitsuki explained, turning to gaze at Meroko, who just shook her head, both of them knew Takuto couldn't see her, but Mitsuki hoped ever so slightly that Takuto may actually be able to see her friend./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto on the other hand was both troubled and relieved that Mitsuki had made, what he believed a imaginary friend. She may have been too old for it, but after the death of her grandmother, and her week long kidnapping, maybe having another girl around the house, even imaginary, could be therapeutic. "Hi?" He asked, not wanting to hurt Mitsuki's feelings as he waved in the direction Mitsuki had been looking at./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki sighed and shook her head in embarrassment, Takuto had been waving to a open window, instead of the direction where Meroko was sitting. "I guess he can't see you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's okay squirt." Takuto rubbed her hair. As he pulled his hand back, he felt the overwhelming sensation of two hands grabbing him from underneath his arms, and with one strong pull, the two arms pulled him into the air for several meters, leaving him dangling in the air at the mercy of a invisible person./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Meroko! Put him down!" Mitsuki cried in shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko shook her head, doing her best to keep him from slipping through her fingers. "Not until he says I am real!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto she says she won't put you down until you say she is real!" Mitsuki called up to him as Takuto kicked his feet wildly in the air, trying to grab onto something for support./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Okay! She's real!" He yelled out as quickly as he could. Slowly he felt himself drift back down onto the ground, his heart continued to pound until his feet finally touched concrete again, and even then he wasn't completely sure what had just /br /p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Gripping one of the old metal crates, Takuto did his best to catch his breath, a million thoughts rushed through his head, who was Meroko, what was Meroko, how long had Mitsuki known Meroko? Yet this wasn't the place to ask that, especially when Meroko could toss him back up into the air again. "Are you okay Takuto?" Mitsuki asked, approaching him with both hands clasped together./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yeah I'm fine squirt." He waved her off as his pulse rate finally returned to normal. "Listen, I overheard you talking to Meroko about, our relationship." The words seemed foreign coming out of his mouth, he had never considered Mitsuki and him in a relationship even though he had professed his love to her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It was nothing!" Mitsuki quickly replied, forgetting the tearstains that still ran down her cheek. She moved to wipe them away with her hand, and when she opened her eyes Takuto held out a box in his outstretched hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Happy birthday Mitsuki." Takuto smiled as Mitsuki took the box curiously in her hands./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She opened the small box up and her eyes grew wide in shock. "EH?!" She cried out as she pulled out the necklace, attached to the silver chain was a small ring, much too big for her fingers with a tiny diamond placed in the middle of it. Her eyes marveled at the small diamond for a second, before looking back up at him trying to figure out the meaning behind the present./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto knew the ring all too well, it was the engagement ring he had originally bought for Hikari, he had promised himself over a year ago that he would marry Hikari, but as the two of them drifted apart he put off the engagement further and further, until a few days ago he discovered the ring in his sock drawer, knowing it was much too large for Mitsuki's fingers he fashioned a chain around it so she could wear it around like a necklace./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He took a deep breath and placed his hands on Mitsuki's shoulders. "Think of this as a promise, that one day, when you are old enough, that I will want you to be my fiancé." He smiled and moved in, kissing her soft cheek ever so lightly. He knew what he was doing was right, even though he had put off wanting to give her the necklace, hearing her talk about her fears of him leaving her convinced him that the time was indeed right./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It's a engagement right!" Meroko cried out in joy, flying down to hug Mitsuki and gaze at the ring./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eh?! It is?" Mitsuki asked, her face becoming a even deeper shade of red./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Ask him! Ask him if it is a engagement ring!" Meroko egged her on, trying to get Mitsuki to clarify what exactly the ring was./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki gulped, her fingers shaking as she clutched the necklace. "Takuto is this a.." Her mouth quickly went dry, the words just could not come from her mouth, what if he said no, what if he took the ring back away from her just for asking./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto knew what she was going to ask, and even he wasn't sure what the answer was. We're they engaged? We're they just making a promise to be engaged? Could he even get engaged to a twelve year old girl, no matter how much he loved her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko shook her head in annoyance at how the two could not come out and say it, she knew how Mitsuki felt about Takuto, and she had a pretty good idea Takuto felt the same way back, why couldn't he just confess his love love for her and say it was a engagement ring? With a snap of her fingers in the direction of the two of them, a pink puff of smoke filled the air, by the time it cleared Takuto was down on one knee, the necklace out of Mitsuki's hands and back into his./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""M-Meroko!" Mitsuki protested in shock as she slowly came to realize that Takuto was no longer standing but on one knee and eye level with her./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto meanwhile was struggling to come to terms with what just happened, he had been standing at one moment, and the next he was eye level with Mitsuki, if not slightly below eye level with her, with the necklace in his hand. Slowly it began to dawn on him what had just happened, Meroko whatever she was, had used some kind of magic to put him in this position, the position that a man typically took to ask for his wife's hand in marriage. "Mitsuki." He cleared his throat, causing her eyes to turn back to him and away from Meroko./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He bit his lip and looked down at the floor, gathering all his courage before looking back into her eyes, so full of hope, so full of life, they were the same eyes that he used to have before Wakouji's death. She filled him with a energy and love of life that he did not even think was possible any more, the love he felt for her went beyond any small infatuation, it was as if they were meant to be together, that she was the pieces that finally completed him, finally made him happy./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki, will you marry me?" He asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Without even answering Mitsuki threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him over. With tears streaming down her face Meroko joined in the group hug, her additional weight knocking all three of them to the ground./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With a sore back, and ringing still filling his ears, Aoi walked out of the airplane and into the bustling Tokyo airport. Both Hazuki and himself had caught the first flight back, hoping to surprise Mitsuki on her birthday. They had both needed the trip, especially Hazuki who he believed had finally come to terms with her mother's death while they were gone./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""We're home." He smiled, and took his wife's hand./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The two of them began to make their way through the crowd, heading to the baggage pickup. If they timed it right they could get home just in time to surprise Mitsuki and take her out to dinner, and then return home and unpack and prepare for her birthday tomorrow./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Hold on, I need to get a bottled water." Hazuki called out, leading him over to the small gift shop. The two hour flight had been without beverages or snacks, and even he had to admit a cold bottled water sounded great right about now./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As Hazuki went inside he stopped at the news rack, and glanced down at the various newspapers on display. His eyes slowly moved across each one, gazing at the headlines, before stopping at one near the end. His bag fell from his hands, hitting the floor in a loud thud, the contents spilling open and rolling everywhere./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Young music star caught sleeping with bodyguard boyfriend" The headline read./p 


	28. Happy Birthday, Dear Mitsuki

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Eight/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Happy Birthday, Dear Mitsuki/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The chain dangled loosely around Mitsuki's neck, the metal having been warmed by her own body heat, the ring slid back and forth against her skin when she kept it hidden under her shirt and away from view from prying eyes. She hadn't taken it or the ring off since Takuto had given it to her the day before, and now in the comfort and safety of her own room she had the chance to admire it for the umpteenth time./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Oh, I wish Izumi would give me something like that." Meroko sulked in jealousy as she watched Mitsuki play with the ring and chain infront of the mirror. In her mind's eye she could see Izumi kneel down infront of her, on some beautiful wind sweat beach, he would gaze up into her eyes and provide a ring that would glitter in the dying rays of the sunlight./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Meroko are you okay?" Mitsuki asked, shattering the carefully crafted illusion she had made in her mind of Izumi's proposal. The ring dangled around her ring finger, obviously several sizes too large for her hand. "I can't wait till I am old enough to wear it."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Mitsuki!" Tanaka called out as she opened the sliding door into Mitsuki's room with just enough time for Mitsuki to hide the necklace and ring under her shirt. The family maid, who had been one of Fuzuki's closest friends before she died stumbled toward the bed, her hands filled with letters. "The studio sent in some of your birthday wishes!" She announced./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki scrambled backward just as Tanaka's feet gave way and she lunged forward the letters spilling all over her bed. "There must be over a thousand!" Mitsuki's eyes widened in shock as some of the letters slid off the bed and onto the floor./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"As she glanced through all the different ones, her eyes fell to one that seemed to lay near the middle of the pile. "Madoka!" She scooped up the letter as fast as she could smiling from ear to ear. She hadn't heard from her friend since that day at the mall, but she hoped that Madoka had set herself onto a better path in life./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"'Dear Full Moon, I wanted to wish my biggest fan a happy birthday on her thirteenth birthday. I thought you might want to know, that even though my record is outselling everything else, I talked to my boss and he decided it was okay if you still wanted to do a duet with me. So don't let me down, and happy birthday.'/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki clutched the letter to her chest, feeling it press against the ring. Everything seemed to be right with the world, Takuto had offered to get engaged, Madoka wanted to do a duet together. Everything was finally going right in her life./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko slipped outside as Mitsuki dealt with the various fan letters sent in. As much as she loved her friend, seeing her with Takuto did make her a bit jealous, as she yearned from Izumi to finally take their relationship more seriously./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She sighed and began to walk a lazy path around Mitsuki's house, she began to wonder if a hopeless romantic like herself could find some comfort in the afterlife. She wasn't a good three meters from Mitsuki's room when her foot hit something wet and soft. For a moment she feared she may have hit something one of the neighborhood animals had left behind until she looked down to see what her foot was touching./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Instantly she leapt away in fear and shock, it was one of Mitsuki's stuffed bears that she cherished so much. Yet the chest had been ripped open, the stuffing hung out and was covered in a thick crimson fluid that she knew instantly was blood./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She knew that she couldn't take the doll back to Mitsuki, the sight of it would send the poor girl into shock. Meroko looked back and forth trying to think of what to do until she finally it came to her. She scooped up the doll, the blood dripping through her fingers as she flew to the other side of the house and phased through the window with the doll./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto lay comfortably in his bed, gazing up at the ceiling as he tried to think of a way to head off the coming media storm that would threaten to sweep him and Mitsuki away from eachother, his eyes were already sore from lack of sleep as he remained up all night to try and think of ideas to help explain why he had been caught in bed with Mitsuki./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"His nose caught the smell of something terribly rancid, causing his eyes to water and his stomach to begin to twist and turn in his gut. He turned to look at the source and much to his horror found a disemboweled bloody teddy bear floating in mid air./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He let out a cry of shock and fell off his bed to get away from the horrible sight until he finally began to realize what it was, the teddy bear was the one Mitsuki had made in the shop, and the reason it was floating must have been because Mitsuki's friend Meroko had brought it in to him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Sheash, warn me next time." He shook his head as the teddy bear fell limply to the floor, some of the stuffing and blood beginning to drain and fall out of it's fur. Already feeling creepy with having a invisible woman watch his every move, he stepped forward and began to poke and prod at the bear. It was the one Mitsuki had made months ago, and from the scent of the blood and the bugs inside he would guess that the bear had been outside nearly all night. Which meant that whoever had taken it and dropped it back off had most likely done it while they were staying at Hikari's apartment./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Pulling out a empty garbage bag Takuto did his best to scoop the remains into it before sealing it shut. Already a washcloth floated in mid air before gently falling to the floor and began to clean up the mess the bear left behind./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He knew that Mitsuki would quickly discover her bear was missing and that she would quickly begin to ask questions about it. Meaning he would have to have another uncomfortable meeting where he sat down with her and explained that Yasuno was still after her, and that he had left the bear as a warning that he could get into the house whenever he wanted. He hated to put her through that, to tell her that not even her room was safe from that psychotic man, but the only other option would be for her to go into police protection and that was the last thing he wanted./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""You look horrible" Kato remarked, raising from his chair as Takuto walked into their little office, holding the trash bag that contained Mitsuki's teddy bear. "Get any sleep last night?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Very little." Takuto dumped the bag onto Kato's desk as he slid into the chair opposite from it. Kato opened the bag just long enough to get a whiff of the smell inside before recoiling backwards and closing it back up tight. "That's Mitsuki's teddy bear, the one she made at the mall, I found it outside of her window."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto neglected to add that Mitsuki's flying invisible friend was the one that found it, but he figured that it would be safer if he left that part out. "He's still here, Yasuno is coming after Mitsuki again." He narrowed his eyes, frustration over the lack of police help having been building up inside of him for days./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Kato rose from his chair, grabbing the bag in his hands. "Then lets take it to the police, once they see the evidence they will have to give us some added support."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto shook his head and gripped the chair in frustration. "You will have to take it to the police, lets just say I am not welcome there anymore." He could see Kato open his mouth to try to ask why, but he quickly cut him off. "Alot of things happened while you were with Aoi and Hazuki in Korea."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Kato passed him, placing his hand on Takuto's shoulder. "What ever happened you need to fix it, we have a job to do." He added heading for the door opening just as the sound of Aoi's voice could be heard down the hallway, asking for Takuto to come see him. "Also start wearing a gun, if he does come for Mitsuki again the last thing any of us need is you shot in the chest again."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The words stung just as much as the scar ached at the thought of being caught helpless again. Yet he didn't like guns, he never had, they were too simple, too deadly, one stray shot and a innocent person could end up dead, or worse Mitsuki could./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto!" Aoi called for him again, his voice filled with anger and impatience./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The very sound of his friend's voice filled with such anger was enough to send him scrambling out of his chair, as if being called to appear infront of his father for some misdeed he had done. Within seconds he was in Aoi's bedroom to find both him and Hazuki sitting in chairs across the room, Aoi's eyes narrowed into a glare while Hazuki looked hurt and betrayed./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Sit. Down." Aoi commanded before Takuto could even open his mouth, the very tone was enough to send chills up his spine as Takuto quickly sat down on the bed and faced the two of them. "Care to explain this?" He offered, holding up 'The Daily Tattler' the picture of himself and Mitsuki in bed splashed all over the cover and looking just as damming as when he first saw it at the police station./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto opened his mouth to speak, only to find his voice even more dry and weak than it had been before. "I can explain."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi shook his head in frustration, the photo had been a punch in the gut to him, Takuto had been like a son to him, and now he was caught like this with his own daughter? "It better be a damn good one." He warned./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto took a second to gather up all his strength, he knew that what happened in the next few seconds would determine his future with Mitsuki. "Two days ago, a horrible thunderstorm blew through the area, the only two people in the house were Mitsuki and myself, and I offered to let Mitsuki sleep in my bed because she was scared of the storm." He explained./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi gripped the paper even tighter, not sure if he should believe him or not, he desperately wanted to believe him yet on the other hand it was his daughter. "Care to explain why you were shirtless?" He asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto looked away and then slowly turned his gaze down at his feet, he knew that no matter how much he protested that Aoi wouldn't believe it, not with the picture staring him right in the face. "I wasn't, the photo was edited." He looked back up in Aoi's eyes trying to do his best to make his friend believe him./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hazuki placed a comforting hand on Aoi's leg as he slumped back in the chair, the newspaper falling from his hands. "If you were any other person, I would have fired you already." He began./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He rubbed his head for a moment before turning his gaze back up at Takuto. "I want you out of this house, and until we get this straightened up, and I find out if you are telling the truth, you cannot see Mitsuki."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto opened his mouth to protest, but seeing the anger, determination, and exhaustion in his eyes, he slowly closed it and rose from the bed. "Yes sir." He replied and left the room to go pack his things./p 


	29. Found a New Purpose

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Nine/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Found a New Purpose/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"A light covering of fake snow covered the stage, above it fake diamonds glistened to create the appearance of snow fall as stage lights bounced off of them. The crowd had began to gather early in the morning and as the day dragged on more and more fans gathered. They were at the outdoor stage, braving the windy weather and chance of storms for one reason, to hear Mitsuki debut Eternal Song and to hear the song for the first time live. As dusk and then night fall set in the excitement level began to grow and grow, at any minute Mitsuki and her father would come out to debut the song./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki glanced out of her dressing room, the thought of the debuting the song was all but a distant thought in the back of her mind. She was more focused on Takuto and why he had disappeared so suddenly on the morning of her birthday. Her father had swore that Takuto had to leave to take care of some personal business, but he had left without even saying goodbye, or wishing her a happy birthday./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto.." She mumbled silently, wishing to feel his loving embrace as she walked back to the makeup table and collapsed back in the chair./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""So did you hear about Full Moon's body guard?" A voice came from the hallway outside of the door, it was a harsh whisper and Mitsuki ran to the door to listen. "I heard Aoi fired him after he found out he was sleeping with his daughter."br /br /"Really?" Another voice asked in disbelief, as Mitsuki's eyes grew wide in shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yep, and now he might even go to jail from it!" The first voice continued on and grew fainter and fainter as the two walked further away from the door./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki fell to her knees, clutching the necklace hidden under her white stage jacket in shock. Takuto could go to jail because she was so scared over a thunderstorm that she couldn't sleep? The very thought brought tears to her eyes. If she hadn't acted so childish, then none of this ever would have happened./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko glided down the hallway, humming Mitsuki's song as she looked back and forth for her dressing room. She had finally gotten the night off, after a quick mission earlier that afternoon. Now she could spend the evening watching her friend sing in front of thousands of people. She only wished Izumi could have come with her and share in the romantic experience./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki rushed from her dressing room, the door slaming harshly into the wall as she turned and ran down the hallway, passing Meroko in the process, tears streaming down her young face. "MitsukI!" Meroko spun and pushed forward, her momentum and speed enough to catch up with the little girl. "Where are you going? You're supposed to go on stage in a hour!"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki shook her head and pushed forward through a set of double doors that led out into the parking garage. "Takuto's in trouble because of me, Meroko please you have to find him." She turned and grabbed Meroko's arm, a look of panic and horror displayed across her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Meroko paused for a moment, before nodding and gathering her strength, she flew off into the ceiling of the parking garage, heading out to search the city as Mitsuki climbed into the back of her limo and set out for her own search./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The small motel room Takuto had rented was dank and smelled of mildew, the wallpaper on the walls were stained with watermarks, and he did his best to not even guess how long it had been since the sheets had been cleaned. After the fifteenth call from a news agency, asking for comment on the tabloid story, he had finally turned his cell phone off, leaving his only contact with the outside world being a small television across the room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He flipped through the channels on the television, stopping on a local news station that was broadcasting live from Mitsuki's event. "She should be on by now." He checked his watch before turning the volume up on the television./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""The question on everyone's lips is: Where is Full Moon? We have been hearing reports that a limo exited the building about a hour ago, but it has not been confirmed if Full Moon was inside, or where the limo was heading." The reporter explained as Takuto rubbed his forehead. If Mitsuki had gotten cold feet then he really should have been down there to help her through it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He flipped off the television to go and wash his face from the rusted over sink. Just as he turned the water on, a sharp knock came from his door, loud enough to nearly cause his cupped hand filled with water to splash all over his face and neck. For a moment he dared to hope that it was Mitsuki, but he knew that was impossible, he had left without even telling her where he was going so that she wouldn't try to run away and make a bad situation even worse./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The knock came again as Takuto made his way to the door and flipped open the lock. "Squirt if you missed the concert for me." He began to say as he opened the door and found himself looking down the barrel of a gun./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Where is the girl." Yasuno stated bluntly, flicking back the hammer on the gun in a stomach turning click./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto backed away his heart leaping up into his throat in shock. He glanced at his cell phone laying on the nightstand several meters away, he would be dead before he could even reach it. "You took everything away from me, my job, my home, my life." Yasuno tightened his finger on the trigger of the gun. "Last time I just wanted you to suffer, now I will kill you and kill that little brat next."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto hit the bed as he backed up into it, his eyes focused on the gun. "I am going to hunt her down, make her feel the fear I felt by being hunted by the cops, and when I finally grab her.." Yasuno paused as both of them heard a small cry from the doorway. He glanced over his shoulder to find Mitsuki standing there, her hand over her mouth, her eyes frozen in terror./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Seizing the moment, Takuto grabbed the gun causing a shot to go off and strike the ceiling. The sudden shock of the turn of events was enough to allow Takuto to wrestle the gun away from Yasuno. Yet the victory was short lived as Yasuno threw his shoulder into Takuto's stomach, sending the firearm flying from his hands as both men fell to the ground./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Yasuno was up first, sitting on Takuto's stomach he delivered blow after punishing blow to his face, drawing blood and swelling Takuto's left eye. Shaking off the hits, Takuto responded with a swift punch to the neck, closing Yasuno's windpipe for a brief second, which gave him more than enough time to push the man off of him, and bring Takuto back to his feet./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With his back turned to Yasuno, Takuto was already searching for the gun, his vision blurred from pain and blood as his right eye searched the room. For what seemed like a eternity he continued to look before finally spotting the firearm laying on the bed sheets. He moved to grab it only to be grabbed by the ponytail, his head swung around and was smashed face first into the wall as Yasuno drove his head into it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Stars clouded Takuto's vision and he was barely able to make out the sight of the discolored wallpaper as Yasuno pulled him away and drove his head in again. "I'll make her watch you die." Yasuno spat, pulling Takuto's head back for a third bone crunching blow, only to pause./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Weakly Takuto turned his head back around to see why he stopped, only for his blood to freeze from the horrible sight infront of him. Mitsuki had grabbed the gun from the bed, and with shaky fingers and tear stained eyes leveled it at Yasuno. "Mitsuki don't" Takuto wheezed, blood dripping from his lips./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Stop it!" Mitsuki warned, her hands shaking so badly that Takuto wondered if she could even get a shot off, and if so if the bullet would actually hit the target./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Yasuno dropped Takuto allowing him to crumple to the ground as he put his hands up. At first he was scared, and then as he began to realized how frightened the young girl was, a sly smile spread across his face. "Do you realize what happens if you shoot a unarmed man? You go to jail, you won't see mommy and daddy for a very long time."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's knuckles turned white as she gripped the gun even harder as Yasuno stepped forward, his hand outstretched for the gun. "You don't want to go to jail do you?" His voice was calm and comforting as Mitsuki stepped backwards and shook her head, tears streaking down her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Now just give me the damn gun!" Yasuno lunged forward and Mitsuki let out a ear piercing scream./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto slowly rose from the bed, blood dripping from his face and matting his hair down, his left eye completely swollen shut. Every muscle in his body screamed for him to lay back down, and spots still colored his vision. He had heard the gunshot, and the body fall to the floor. He took in deep ragged breaths and held his broken ribs as he stepped toward Yasuno's fallen body, blood already beginning to pool underneath it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto." Mitsuki dropped the smoking gun, her voice a mixture of relief and a sob as she ran forward and threw her arms around him, sending a sharp pain through his ribs./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He winced and bit back a cry of pain, as he stroked her hair with his hand. Yasuno was right, she had shot a unarmed man, and that would mean that she would have to go through a court case, and possibly spend time in juvenile hall for it. He couldn't let her do that, she had so much potential, so much to live for. "Mitsuki, listen to me." He coughed, slowly sitting down on the bed and picking up the gun./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I want you to get back into the limo and leave, don't tell anyone what happened here." He explained as Mitsuki's eyes filled with shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I-I can't do that!" She protested./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"In the distance Takuto could already hear the police sirens, some one must have called the cops after hearing the first gun shot. "I'll be fine." He wiped the blood from his mouth and looked into her eyes with his one good one. "I love you Mitsuki, so please go." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki turned to look at the doorway, and Takuto wasn't sure if it was from the blood loss or the concussion setting in, but for the first time he saw a beautiful woman standing in the doorway, with long pink hair, and bunny ears sticking out of her hair, her hand was outstretched as if to help take Mitsuki away./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Using every last bit of energy he had, Takuto rose and looked directly at the woman. "Meroko?" He asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The woman nodded as Mitsuki looked back up at him in shock. "You can see her?" She asked in disbelief./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto gave a small nod and stepped forward, leading Mitsuki over to her. "Please protect her from now on." He slowly placed Mitsuki's hand in her's, doing his best to keep from falling from to his knees in front of Mitsuki in horrible agonizing pain./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I will." Meroko smiled, and began to lead Mitsuki away./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""T-Takuto, I love you." Mitsuki sobbed as she left the motel room./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I love you too, squirt." Takuto collapsed to the bed, he may have to go to jail, but at least Mitsuki was now safe both from jail time and from Yasuno. And with that thought, a small smile and wave of peace washed over his body./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Epilogue/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Three Years Later/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The small concrete prison cell was covered with newspaper and magazine clippings dating back from the past few years. Starting from the left wall, were some of the oldest each one a article about Full Moon and her success. "Eternal Snow is a Number One Hit" one clipping read, "Eternal Snow tops the charts for the sixth straight week" another one read in large bold print./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Further down the wall the clippings turned to talk of Full Moon's single, finally leading up to the release of "Love Chronicle" and the success it reached. As the year passed and Mitsuki grew older, heading into her fourteenth birthday the headlines began to talk about rumors of Full Moon and Madoka making a duet together. Finally by the midsummer the song was released and rocketed both stars to the top of the charts./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"On the left wall in some of the most recent headlines, it had been announced that after their third duet, Full Moon and Madoka would reform Route L with her father acting both as manager and as the drummer and song writer. "Route L Returns!" The article nearly screamed off the front page of the newspaper with computer created shots of what it would look like with all three on stage together./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto walked around the cell one last time, gazing at each one with a smile. She had continued to rocket to stardom even without him, and most of all Meroko had seemingly kept her promise to keep her safe. "Hey it's time to go." The officer tapped on the prison bars, bringing Takuto back to reality./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He turned and for the first time walked out of the cell without handcuffs on. Taking a moment to breath in the fresh air of freedom he turned and followed the officer down the long hallway of prison cells and out into the main lobby./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto Kira, your sentence is up, if you will sign right here we will relinquish back your things." A middle age woman with a strong nasally voice commanded, handing Takuto a small form to sign./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With three quick strokes of the pen he signed his name on the correct spaces and handed it back. The woman left and returned with a set of bloody clothes, a watch, cell phone, and wallet. With out a word he silently took them and turned, heading through the double doors and out into the free world./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"For a moment the bright glare of the sunshine blinded him as he stepped out into the court yard. As his eyes adjusted he could see several news trucks and even more reporters and camera crews rushing toward him from the open gate of the prison. "Huh?" He rubbed his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"And then he spotted her, her long brown hair waving in the wind, her dress fluttering as she rushed ahead of the mob of reporters, her eyes still sparkling with the youthful energy he had seen so many years ago. "Mitsuki." He whispered his eyes nearly filling with tears./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Takuto!" She cried out, running up to him and enveloping him in a tight hug, her head nearly bumping his chin as she did so. "I missed you so much!" She buried her head into his shoulder as the reporters surrounded him, asking a million different questions./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""I guess I can't call you squirt anymore." He whispered into her ear, as she pulled away with a smile./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Full Moon! What is your relationship with Takuto? Is he still going to be your body guard?" One reporter asked./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Before Takuto could answer, Mitsuki turned and shook her head much to Takuto's surprise and shock. "He isn't my body guard anymore." She smiled and then held up her hand, the ring he had given her so many years back glistened on her finger. "He's my fiancé."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Is this true?!" The same reporter asked over the millions of new questions that suddenly began to come from all directions./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto's eyes widened in shock, and then he slowly began to remember the ring and the promise. A small smile crept over his face as he stroked Mitsuki's cheek./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Yeah, It's true." His voice came out nearly as a whisper as he leaned in and kissed her on the lips./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The End./p 


	30. Found a New Purpose Alternate Ending!

p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Chapter Twenty Nine/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Found a New Purpose Alternate Ending/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Yasuno dropped Takuto allowing him to crumple to the ground as he put his hands up. At first he was scared, and then as he began to realized how frightened the young girl was, a sly smile spread across his face. "Do you realize what happens if you shoot a unarmed man? You go to jail, you won't see mommy and daddy for a very long time."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's knuckles turned white as she gripped the gun even harder as Yasuno stepped forward, his hand outstretched for the gun. "You don't want to go to jail do you?" His voice was calm and comforting as Mitsuki stepped backwards and shook her head, tears streaking down her face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Now just give me the damn gun!" Yasuno lunged forward, Takuto was faster as he threw himself across the bed, his hand snatching the weapon from Mitsuki's hands at the last second and pointing it directly at Yasuno./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She might not kill you, but I will." He narrowed his eyes as the sirens from the approaching cop calls became louder and louder./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"With blood dripping from his face, and every muscle screaming at him to fall to the ground, Takuto held him at gunpoint until the police had finally arrived. With Yasuno in handcuffs, fatigue finally overtook him and he crumpled to the ground, darkness surging forward from the sides of his vision. The last thing he heard was Mitsuki screaming for help./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"The smell of disinfectant filled the hospital, in the background the subtle beeps of the heart monitor were the only signal that Takuto was still alive. His mouth was shut along a long tube that pumped air into his one collapsed lung, his eyes were bandaged shut and multiple bags of fluids were hooked up to a IV to pump into his system. Of the three days he had been there, Mitsuki hadn't left his side yet. She would curl up and sleep in a small chair next to his bed, and spend most of her time talking to him and stroking his hair in the hopes that it would keep him company./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hazuki and Aoi watched the scene from outside of Takuto's room. The tabloid had already printed a retraction of the story after Aoi threatened to sue them, and Yasuno was looking at facing a life sentence in jail as the police tracked down the blood from the teddy bear./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Maybe, we were wrong to shelter her so much." Aoi finally spoke up, having remained silent for much of the time they spent at the hospital. "I mean, I did everything to keep her from getting harmed, even keeping her out of school, and in the end she still ended up getting hurt."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""She's not our baby girl anymore." Hazuki sighed, her eyes remaining focused on Mitsuki./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He turned and looked at Hazuki who couldn't help but turn to him and smile as she placed a hand over his and squeezed it. "You're keeping something from me." He narrowed his eyes./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She just shrugged and continued to smile. "A mother knows things about her daughter." She said cryptically as she turned back to look at Mitsuki tending to Takuto./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi's eyes widened in shock as he looked back and forth from the scene to Hazuki. "You mean you knew that Mitsuki, and Takuto..." He almost lost the ability to form words from his utter shock./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She laughed again and patted his hand. "I wouldn't have been a very good mother if I didn't know about my daughter's first crush."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi groaned, his shoulders hanging down as he turned his attention back to Mitsuki. "You're right, she's not a baby anymore."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Even though the doctor had told him to stay in bed for atleast two more weeks to allow his lung to heal, Takuto couldn't help but go stir-crazy inside of his bedroom. He didn't need to worry about Mitsuki's safety as Kato was taking over his duties for the time being, and he was glad that Aoi had allowed him to return to the house after he got out of the hospital, yet laying in bed for three weeks was going to be the death of him, he just knew it./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Lunch time!" Mitsuki called out, pushing the door open with her foot as she walked in with a tray complete with a drink and hot bowl of soup. He couldn't help but blush with the sight of her in a cute apron and hairnet./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Soup again?" He asked with a groan, only to be rewarded with a sharp pain from his healing ribs./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""Eat it, it's good for you." Aoi commanded, a small smile on his face as he and Hazuki entered the room. After Mitsuki had put down the plate, the two of them walked to the edge of the bed as Mitsuki sat down next to him. "We wanted to talk to you about something, both of you."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto and Mitsuki exchanged inquisitive looks as Aoi took a deep breath and waited for Hazuki to start, when she showed no sign of doing so he finally stepped in. "Mitsuki, your mom and I have been talking, and we do think we have been a bit too overprotective of you in the past."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Hazuki nodded and reached over to touch her daughter's hands. "So we have talked about it, and instead of having a tutor, we've decided to enroll you in a private school with kids your own age."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki's eyes lit up in shock. "Really?!" She asked in disbelief./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi moved his eyes toward Takuto. "Now I don't like you dating my daughter, but that is a discussion for another time." He began as Takuto's blood pressure increased tenfold for a second. "Because she is going to a private middle school, which will have it's own top level security, we will only need you part time from now on."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki turned back to look at Takuto for a moment before looking at her father. "Does that mean I will only get to see Takuto only a little bit now?" She asked, a bit of panic creeping into her voice./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Aoi shook his head and held up his hand. "Not exactly." He began./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"Six Months Later./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Spring was in full bloom across Tokyo, the flowers were blooming and filling the air with pollen, trees everywhere were colored in a healthy shade of green, birds were finally out singing their beautiful melody. And the air was filled with the excitement of a new school year./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto and Mitsuki waited inside of the limo as it pulled up to the middle school, her fingers clutched his hand as she continued to look out of the window. The last few days had been a mixture of excitement and dread for her, it was her first time at a actual school, and that meant a number of new things to be excited about and to fear./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;""It still feels too tight." Takuto grumbled, tugging on his sleeves of his suit. He had never been one for suits, and since he had outgrown the last one. Aoi had insisted on buying him a new one for the school year./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki turned in her gray school uniform and smiled at him. "I think you look handsome in it." She blushed, bringing a blush to Takuto's face as well, he had to admit that she did look pretty cute in her new uniform./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"After another minute of agonizing waiting he finally rose from his seat and opened the door, the sounds of students talking back and forth instantly filled the car. "Well what are you waiting for go on." He gestured for her to head on in./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Mitsuki rose to get out and then paused. "Teacher's first." She grinned./p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"Takuto groaned and stepped out before reaching in and taking her hand. "I'm only the music teacher squirt, so that doesn't mean I'm much higher than the students here."/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"She took his hand, clasping it tightly as the two began to walk inside. "Takuto?" She paused half way up the steps. "Did you remember to bring your lesson plan?"/p  
p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 115%;"He froze and groaned. "Is it too late for me to take back my old job as a janitor?" He asked as Mitsuki laughed and pulled him into the school, and into the new life that awaited him./p 


End file.
